WASHINGTON-In a four-pronged simultaneous marketing announcement McLean, Va.-based Nextel Communications Inc. will unveil today a $35 million nationwide advertising campaign, the introduction of enhanced specialized mobile radio service in San Francisco, one-second rounding and a half-price phone.
The company, which is plunging head-first into the competitive wireless arena, will place ads on broadcast and cable television, on the radio and in print media. Company spokeswoman Kara Palamaras said Nextel will kick off its campaign with two-page ads in The Wall Street Journal and in USA Today, and it will become the largest telecom advertiser on cable sports network ESPN.
Ads also will appear on news-oriented CNN. “If America doesn’t know who we are today, they will next week,” she added.
The carrier’s new service perk, one-second rounding on voice calls, is different than the accepted one-minute standard and will save customers money on their bills, as will Nextel’s price-cutting of its most popular handset, the Powerfone, to $199 in order to better compete with cellular and personal communications services handsets.
