Apparently Sprint’s and T-Mobile US’ growth are having an impact on Verizon Wireless. Why do I say that? Just take a look at what’s happening in the advertising world. Verizon Wireless has hired Jamie Foxx and two Jamie Foxx doubles to play Sprint and T-Mobile US copying everything the real Foxx says.
The real story here is that Sprint and T-Mobile US growth must be seriously impacting Verizon Wireless, otherwise they would not have stooped to this level and weakened their own brand. While Verizon Wireless may think they have to do something because of the progress Sprint and T-Mobile US are making, responding like this makes them look like they are losing business and they are desperate to stop that loss.
Why is Verizon Wireless so desperate to slow customer loss?
Advertising and marketing is necessary, yet it is often difficult to balance the right messaging. The right messaging builds your brand and your sales, and if you are lucky has a negative impact on your competition. However, rushing in never works. Often in the rush to solve one problem, companies create another one. That’s what I think is happening with Verizon Wireless.
Over the last 10 to 15 years, the top two wireless networks in the United States have always been AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless. Period. End of story. A decade ago both Sprint and T-Mobile US fell off the growth track. They had different reasons, but the bottom line is both were struggling.
Then over the last few years we have seen both Sprint and T-Mobile US regroup and begin their recovery. And apparently Verizon Wireless is feeling the Sprint and T-Mobile US growth.
Sprint and T-Mobile US recovery
T-Mobile US was first and they have shown growth in recent years. When CEO John Legere took over, the company had loads of problems with slower network, poor connectivity, not enough spectrum and so on. Legere’s marketing started to attract attention of the consumer. Since then T-Mobile US has been investing in and improving their offering. They have been growing, quarter after quarter.
A few years later Sprint started their recovery. They hired Dan Hesse as CEO, which stabilized the company and then Sprint was acquired by Softbank. Now it is run by CEO Marcelo Claure and has been reinventing itself during the last year or so. They have been improving service and showing growth.
In fact, their recent ad campaign says all four major wireless players are within 1% of each other. Plus, Sprint says they’ll cut customer costs in half compared to the other three major competitors.
Capturing wireless customer attention
Marketing the right way is key. It gets customers attention. The important lesson to learn here is growth is dependent on great quality, great reliability, great marketing, advertising and messaging.
Like my father taught me, you can have the best product or service, but if the market doesn’t know about it you will likely fail. Those words stuck with me.
Messaging is key. The messaging and the quality of the network are obviously there now for both Sprint and T-Mobile US. Otherwise, customers would try, be disappointed and leave. However, they aren’t leaving. And Sprint customers are enjoying the savings.
So that means all four wireless carriers in the U.S. market are strong with a quality network. And those networks continue to get better and stronger, year after year. Remember, wireless is a moving target.
That means both Sprint and T-Mobile US are growing their market share, and that is obviously pinching Verizon Wireless. Don’t get me wrong. Both AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless are the largest wireless carriers in the country, period.
However, both Sprint and T-Mobile US are making serious headway. And if we pay attention to the Jamie Foxx commercials, they are obviously taking market share from Verizon Wireless.
