Amidst significant operational change across the organization and thousands of job cuts, Sprint is boosting the reach of its in-house ad agency
Sprint’s latest move to garner greater relevancy and trim operating costs includes the bolstering of its in-house advertising agency, according to local reports.
The Kansas City Star reports Sprint, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas, created Yellow Fan Studios to assume “creative responsibility for the mobile carrier’s film and print production, design and other creative services.” Sprint is said to have already hired 30 “creative professionals” into the group, with plans to hire an additional 30 in the near future. The report noted Sprint has had an in-house production studio, but decided to boost those efforts.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure is said to have created the initiative six months ago as part of the carrier’s ongoing efforts to trim operational costs. Those efforts have included thousands of job cuts across the organization, as well as naming Roger Solé to replace Kevin Crull as chief marketing officer. The Yellow Fan Studios group is set to focus on digital media, which Claure noted has helped the carrier trim overall marketing costs while at the same time bolstering customer growth.
“With greater efficiency in our marketing spend and establishing a regional accountability model for the sales force, we’re putting the resources closer to the customer in order to improve sales, productivity and retention,” Claure noted during the carrier’s recent quarterly conference call. “You can already see that improved operating efficiency when you consider that we lowered our marketing spend 12% year-over-year, while increasing postpaid phone gross adds for the year.”
Sprint tapped Christopher Bennett to run the Yellow Fan Studios business, according to the report, having joined the organization last August. Bennett previously worked in corporate communications for 1-800-Got-Junk, Guitar Center and Best Buy.
Reports indicated Sprint will continue to work with advertising agency Deutsch for general market advertising and with Alma for targeting the Hispanic market.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter
