Sprint EVO "First" Advertising...

[Brewmeister]

So you don't want to wait on an EPIC Brew?

Um...No. The only thing that I would prefer is a slightly smaller version of the Evo with all of the same specs, but the Epic is just as big, but with a smaller screen! That, and I have no need for a physical keyboard.

This weekend, I will be calling all of the stores in town yet again to see if anything has changed.

 

[81_]

droid commercials are better.

 

[B Allen]

droid commercials are better.

sure. enjoy your droid delivered via meteorite and stealth bombers.

 

[81_]

sure. enjoy your droid delivered via meteorite and stealth bombers.

huh..

just saying the droid commercials are better overall. although i do like the first evo commecial with all the old technology. that one was good. but the new ones are lacking.

 

[B Allen]

huh..

just saying the droid commercials are better overall. although i do like the first evo commecial with all the old technology. that one was good. but the new ones are lacking.

i'm just messing around. total matter of opinion. i just think most of the droid commercials are ridiculous (like the meteorite and steath bomber commercials). i rarely even see an evo commercial to make a comparison.

 

[Slick1020]

i'm just messing around. total matter of opinion. i just think most of the droid commercials are ridiculous (like the meteorite and steath bomber commercials). i rarely even see an evo commercial to make a comparison.

I have only seen the red eye commercial with it saying DROID. Nope I'm 31 and most of my friends are around my age. They just love Android and not to mention they are aviators so we do act like kids every once and awhile when we are cutting loose.

 

[81_]

i'm just messing around. total matter of opinion. i just think most of the droid commercials are ridiculous (like the meteorite and steath bomber commercials). i rarely even see an evo commercial to make a comparison.

it was the red eye droid does commercial that sold me, or at least got me looking at smart phones. it wasn't until i started digging into the various phones on the market (as well as carriers), that i decided to settle on the evo.

none of the evo commercials got me thinking about buying a phone.

 

[B Allen]

I have only seen the red eye commercial with it saying DROID. Nope I'm 31 and most of my friends are around my age. They just love Android and not to mention they are aviators so we do act like kids every once and awhile when we are cutting loose.

i can't say i've seen the red eye commercial - haven't watched much tv during the summer. i'm an immature 32 year old, so i meant nothing by the comment - just not a fan of the droid commercials i've seen or the sound that comes from them (i've got a cartman ringtone to prove my immature point).

 

[R1_Rydah]

I like the droid commercials... different strokes, for different folks...

 

[Deleted User]

Advertising sucks. Its the kind of commercial I tune out immediately. AT&T does a decent job with their Android phones. Verizon's Droid success, I think, is mostly based on the name more than the phone. People know my EVO isn't a "Droid", yet they still ask, "Is that a Droid?" They do this because they think Droid and Android are synonymous.

I also think the EVO isn't exactly selling like mad. I think they have production problems and/or made some minor hardware mods. All pure speculation on my part.

But, yes, Sprint's marketing sucks. They need to slap the phone next to it's competition, show the EVO's strong points, mention "oh ya, our voice and unlimited data plans are cheaper, and give you unlimited mobile to mobile on any carrier. They need to pick this and/or the Epic and make it the flagship, and push it as a "brand". Like the iSheep... like the Droid series...

 

[R1_Rydah]

They need to pick this and/or the Epic and make it the flagship, and push it as a "brand". Like the iSheep... like the Droid series...

agree 110%

 

[chris44gw]

Will your friends take and EPIC 4G or is it like my analogy in another thread? The EVO is like your mom buying you a new Transformer that you asked for. The EPIC 4G is like your mom coming home with a Gobot instead of a Transformer.

I'm sorry. I had to LOL at this. I almost forgot about gobots. I guess the evo is optimus prime?

 

[novox77]

Sprint gets it right on its website. Here's their latest splash page for the epic:

Sprint | The Now Network | Samsung Epic 4G

Click on each of the 3 pics to the right of the phone to see the epic in action.

That's the kind of thing I'd rather see on a TV commercial, rather than buildings transforming into radars.

 

[B Allen]

But, yes, Sprint's marketing sucks. They need to slap the phone next to it's competition, show the EVO's strong points, mention "oh ya, our voice and unlimited data plans are cheaper, and give you unlimited mobile to mobile on any carrier. They need to pick this and/or the Epic and make it the flagship, and push it as a "brand". Like the iSheep... like the Droid series...

Completely agree. I honestly had no idea that mobile to mobile was free until a friend that's also on Sprint told me after I bought my phone/service. That should be Sprints #1 point for pulling in customers, and #2 should be the fact that they have a pretty bad ass phone to go with a cheap, basically unlimitted phone plan for $69....plus the $10 4G charge they bend you over for.

 

[EarlyMon]

For the longest time, I thought 4G was some sort of marketing gimmick, like Sprint's special brand of 3G. Sprint was advertising 4G before it was useable.

You were right the first time compadre.

iPhone 4 Is Not 4G Phone; LTE And WiMAX Are Not Yet 4G Technology

The "True" 4G Technology

However, so-called 4G technologies, including LTE (Long Term Evolution), WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), are just networking service projects proposed to ITU (International Telecommunication Union) to be defined as 4G technologies. To be accorded the official designation of 4G, the transmission speed has to reach the requirement of 100Mbps (mobile networks) and 1 Gbps (fixed networks).

So far the above so-called 4G technologies have not yet fully complied the transmission requirements of 4G standard, and should be called 3.9G, or pre-4G technologies, ITU noted.

ITU has received six technology submissions and is currently in the evaluation process for determining which can be qualified as true 4G technology. The determination will be made in October 2010, according to ITU's earlier announcement.

How about a campaign less focused on penis size, and one that shows us what the phones actually do? what a concept!

Uhhhhh..... uhhhhh...

Not sure how to work in the importance of the 4.3" screen if you're gonna be that way about it...

 

[EarlyMon]

Sprint gets it right on its website. Here's their latest splash page for the epic:

Sprint | The Now Network | Samsung Epic 4G

Click on each of the 3 pics to the right of the phone to see the epic in action.

That's the kind of thing I'd rather see on a TV commercial, rather than buildings transforming into radars.

Ahem.

Yes. That's very good.

I would note their use of this glyph -

And would say that they're perfectly truthful in that ad, as it wasn't a picture of ...

That looked like the original Battlestar Ponderosa blowing up in the entertainment link from their sat - do you suppose they took out the GPS constellation in the explosion?

Seriously though, yeap - it's better advertising...

 

[BenChase7]

^

lol

 

[meyerweb]

Completely agree. I honestly had no idea that mobile to mobile was free until a friend that's also on Sprint told me after I bought my phone/service. That should be Sprints #1 point for pulling in customers, and #2 should be the fact that they have a pretty bad ass phone to go with a cheap, basically unlimitted phone plan for $69....plus the $10 4G charge they bend you over for.

Sprint ran many ads about free mobile to mobile. I mean, I must have seen free mob to mob ads a thousand time by now. From the CEO telling us in simple terms, to ads with Flava Flave. Can't blame Sprint if you don't pay any attention.

And they've run dozens of ads pointing out how much cheaper their plans are.

I don't think the Evo "first" ads are bad, I just don't think they're enough. Ads that focus more on features (video chat, anyone?), like Apple runs would be helpful. But Sprint can't afford to run the same kind of ad campaign that Verizon and Apple can afford.

As for the Droid ads, the truth is they're effective only because Verizon can afford to run them over and over and over until you think the word "Droid" must mean something. Their ads say little about the devices or what make them special. What the heck does turning an astronaut's arm into a robot arm have to do with anything? Sprint's "First" ads are more informative.

 

[EarlyMon]

Sprint ran many ads about free mobile to mobile. I mean, I must have seen free mob to mob ads a thousand time by now. From the CEO telling us in simple terms, to ads with Flava Flave. Can't blame Sprint if you don't pay any attention.

And they've run dozens of ads pointing out how much cheaper their plans are.

I don't think the Evo "first" ads are bad, I just don't think they're enough. Ads that focus more on features (video chat, anyone?), like Apple runs would be helpful. But Sprint can't afford to run the same kind of ad campaign that Verizon and Apple can afford.

As for the Droid ads, the truth is they're effective only because Verizon can afford to run them over and over and over until you think the word "Droid" must mean something. Their ads say little about the devices or what make them special. What the heck does turning an astronaut's arm into a robot arm have to do with anything? Sprint's "First" ads are more informative.

True.

On the other hand, if you do it right, a single ad can be remembered forever and make a world of difference:

YouTube - 1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial

TBWA\Chiat\Day and others are still open for business and Ridley Scott is far from dead.

 

[marctronixx]

that was back before the world had twitter, crackbook, myspace, DVRs that can skip commercials.... the World Wide Web.... so it made perfect sense to spend time and resources on "catch phrases" ("wheres the beef?") and bigger than life commercials.. i mean a lot of commercials back then were directed by movie directors!

you guys miss the point. you all represent a tiny to nil amount of people sprint sells ads to. these ads you all dont like are designed to the average joe customer who is looking to cash in on new technology and 4G.

you guys already know this stuff so they dont need to explain anything to you.
they do have to dumb down things a bit so the AVERAGE person can understand it just enough to get off the sofa and go see one in person.

for example,the president's speeches (this goes to ALL presidents.. ) and even some CEOs of BIG companies such as WalMart are written so people with lower educations can understand policies.. etc..

further, there are different styles of commercials for different demo's. look at those lame geico commercials... they tell me ZERO about the insurance.. just a talking animal... but that advertising works..

ummm those progressive commercials?? how dumbed down are those?? yet it clearly works for THEIR demo...

sprint is a corporation. it wants to win everybody over to them, so they cater to the lowest common denominator so it reaches out to everyone. they dont sell those ads on financial programs.. their demo is not watching then... they sell ads during reality shows, sex and the city, etc... because their demo is watching then...

True.

On the other hand, if you do it right, a single ad can be remembered forever and make a world of difference:

YouTube - 1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial

TBWA\Chiat\Day and others are still open for business and Ridley Scott is far from dead.

 

[EarlyMon]

that was back before the world had twitter, crackbook, myspace, DVRs that can skip commercials.... the World Wide Web.... so it made perfect sense to spend time and resources on "catch phrases" ("wheres the beef?") and bigger than life commercials.. i mean a lot of commercials back then were directed by movie directors!

you guys miss the point. you all represent a tiny to nil amount of people sprint sells ads to. these ads you all dont like are designed to the average joe customer who is looking to cash in on new technology and 4G.

you guys already know this stuff so they dont need to explain anything to you.
they do have to dumb down things a bit so the AVERAGE person can understand it just enough to get off the sofa and go see one in person.

the president's speeches (this goes to ALL presidents.. ) are written so people with lower educations can understand policies.. etc..

further, there are different styles of commercials for different demo's. look at those lame geico commercials... they tell me ZERO about the insurance.. just a talking animal... but that advertising works..

ummm those progressive commercials?? how dumbed down are those?? yet it clearly works for THEIR demo...

sprint is a corporation. it wants to win everybody over to them, so they cater to the lowest common denominator so it reaches out to everyone. they dont sell those ads on financial programs.. their demo is not watching then... they sell ads during reality shows, sex and the city, etc... because their demo is watching then...

You're making my point with your examples, not refuting it.

For as much as we may hate Progressive or Gekko or other dumbed-down commercials, they know what they are.

The ad above is neither fish nor fowl.

"First to give you Android 2.2" is going to make your architypical Joe Sixpack ask his buds what's an Android 2.2 - and without depth to back that up, that sale is growing legs and walking elsewhere.

Joe Sixpack is going to rightly figure that he doesn't need some Cadillac 2.2 when Chevy 2.0 sounds pretty good and more people are buying them.

novox77 nailed it - per your rule, he articulated that 4G wins because it's one bigger than 3G.

xkcd: Spinal Tap Amps

And finally - you prove my point explicitly.

If you're going to advertise your most expensive handsets and services to the lowest common denominator of your market, you're going to miss your target demographic.

 

[EarlyMon]

(i've got a cartman ringtone to prove my immature point).

I just send people to this forum to read my posts and that pretty much wraps it up for me.

 

[novox77]

... are written so people with lower educations can understand...

I agree that messages to a wide audience needs to be dumbed down, because the reality is, the average person is pretty damn stupid. But a smartphone is not really targeting the average. You need to have some money to afford it. You need to have some intelligence to use it.

I think Sprint's "first" commercials are making an impact. Not so much the content but just how often they were played. That's how I learned about the Evo. That's brute-force advertising, and it's wasteful.

Contrast that with the iPhone's initial advertisements. They showed the phone display full screen on your TV, and a finger manipulated the UI to showcase what the phone could do. If I recall correctly, there were no words uttered in the entire commercial. The commercials were frequently updated with new demonstrations. It was fun and impressive to watch the phone work.

Sprint gets it right with their website:
Sprint | The Now Network | Samsung Epic 4G

Watching those hands play that racing game and the video-sharing segment actually got me interested in the phone. That's so much more preferable than hearing FIRST FIRST FIRST 4G 4G 4G DROID DROID DROID pounded into my head 20 times every night.

Brute force is the last resort of the incompetent. -hacking guild of my alma mater.

 

[EarlyMon]

Brute force is the last resort of the incompetent. -hacking guild of my alma mater.

Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.

 

[drexappeal]

Wow, I didn't realize my thread would garner so many responses. And many of you have some very interesting points. My job is connected to Marketing/Advertising/Promotion, so I like seeing people's different perspectives on the subject.

While I do agree that the "First" commercials that Sprint is currently using, reach out to a "broad" demographic, I still don't think they're showing "Joe Schmoe" exactly why the EVO can and should be set apart from all the other phones on the market.
Yes, it's the first 4G phone in the US. Fine, Sprint is the first provider to offer Android 2.2 on that same phone. So what? What does that do for "Joe Schmoe?" What does that mean to Joe Schmoe? How does that make Joe Schmoe's life any easier than having a different phone from a different provider? As far as Joe Schmoe is concerned, he'll see no difference between the HD2 and the EVO. All he'll know is that the EVO has 4G and a kickstand, but everything else looks the same. Joe Schmoe needs to know that the EVO, with Android 2.2 and 4g, is just as easy, if not "easier" to use than an iPhone and just as fun too.

The EVO, from what I've read, is supposed to be Sprint's "flagship" phone. Why not have different commercials catered towards different demographics, rather than one (1) sell on the premise of the phone being "first." What better time for them to be putting together several different creative commercials, geared towards different demographics, than now? The phone is sold out everywhere and to start focusing on different sells to different demographics would only make things better for pre-sales (while they're trying to fulfill all the current backorders).