Sprint Adds Former BellSouth Executive, Reveals ‘Customer-centric’ Strategy*
The name still may be Sprint Nextel, but a new sales pitch might give another impression. A marketing campaign Sprint debuted Wednesday drops the Nextel name. The same day Sprint announced that Keith Cowan will take over as president, strategy planning and corporate initiative, with Sprint/MSO Joint Venture President John Garcia becoming senior vice president of product management and development. The shifts, two days before AT&T’s iPhone launch, reflect “coincidental” good timing, Sprint spokesman Dave Mellin told us.
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The “Together with Nextel” tagline will disappear July 1, replaced by “Sprint Ahead.” Nextel will be less visible in ads, but “master brand” Sprint is not putting the Nextel name down the memory hole, Mellin told us. The brand will adorn push-to-talk service Nextel Direct Connect, as a component of the tag “SprintSpeed,” he said. Sprint Nextel will keep developing its portfolio of PowerSource phones that access both Sprint and Nextel networks, he said. Contrary to reports Wednesday in the Washington Post, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series will keep that name at least through 2007, and Sprint has no plans to rename it the “Sprint Cup” in the years following, he said.
“Sprint Ahead” is a more optimistic, customer-oriented theme than its predecessor, Sprint said. The campaign, by San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, uses light to embody speed and “demonstrates the intersection of humanity and technology,” Sprint said. The campaign is not a reaction to AT&T’s imminent iPhone release, Mellin said.
Cowan will oversee Sprint Nextel’s cable joint venture, 4G Mobile Broadband, and other aspects of corporate strategy, Sprint said. His job also could be to “improve [Sprint’s relationship with cable companies] and perhaps solicit their investment … in WiMAX,” Pali Research analyst Walter Piecyk said. Cowan, who worked more than ten years for BellSouth, will report to Chairman and CEO Gary Forsee.