By Alexandra Bruell
One of the biggest advances in telecom technology in a decade is
forcing the industry's largest players to rethink their advertising
approach.
As carriers begin to roll out 5G -- fifth-generation technology
expected to amplify wireless speeds and power -- some are focusing
on emotive advertising that shows how the upgrade changes people's
lives, rather than solely promoting the price and functionality of
their plans.
These companies are no longer just utilities, says Daniel Binns,
the New York chief executive of branding firm Interbrand, which
works with a handful of carriers. "They have to transform the way
people live and work," he says. "There's emotion in that
story."
In late 2017, Verizon Communications Inc. launched an ad
campaign showing how the company's network, backed by 5G, will be
able to change the world, from powering robotic surgery to easing
traffic congestion and controlling pollution. More recently, it
aired a Super Bowl spot showing the role the network played in
helping first responders save football players' lives.
"There will be a lot less ads about the technology itself, and a
lot more ads about what people can do with that technology or the
experience they can have with Verizon," says the company's chief
marketing officer, Diego Scotti.
As the industry's role in everyday lives continues to increase,
the telecom giants are positioning themselves as tech companies
rather than just phone and internet providers.
The transition is from a seller of talk, texts and data to a
company that delivers the technology of the future, making it easy
to understand and easy to subscribe, says Sprint Corp. Chief
Marketing Officer Roger Solé.
Sprint, for example, is currently marketing packages that bundle
phone plans, security services and Hulu access with its "LTE
Advanced" network, a "steppingstone" to 5G, as Mr. Solé describes
it. Once the company implements 5G widely, he says he expects the
marketing to shift gears again, telling stories with a more
emotional bent.
The stories companies tell won't just tug at heartstrings,
however. Each carrier will need to continue to work hard to
convince increasingly skeptical consumers that its technology is
better than that of rivals.
Large carriers have a history of making bold claims about their
capabilities in ads and of taking jabs at competitors. For example,
former Verizon "can you hear me now" spokesman Paul Marcarelli
moved to Sprint in 2016, saying in the ads that even he switched to
Sprint.
"Every time there's a technology innovation, we see a surge in
competitor complaints about the claims made around that
technology," says Laura Brett, director of the National Advertising
Division of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council. The division,
which is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus,
reviews ads and provides recommendations about whether they are
truthful based on standards set by cases the NAD has reviewed.
There's already a flare-up among two of the industry's top
players. Sprint recently filed a lawsuit against AT&T Inc. over
a branding effort that according to Sprint falsely leads customers
to believe they are getting 5G service on their phones. The suit
was filed in U.S. federal court for the Southern District of New
York.
AT&T recently began adding to phone screens in hundreds of
markets a "5Ge" label, which stands for 5G Evolution. The company
promoted the new label in a new ad campaign called "Just OK Is Not
OK."
Rivals say AT&T plan holders may confuse 5Ge for
full-fledged 5G, which has not yet been widely implemented. A
number of carriers have said that they expect to implement 5G this
year.
After AT&T began using the 5Ge label, Verizon Chief
Technology Officer Kyle Malady published a blog calling on the
wireless industry to "commit to labeling something 5G only if new
device hardware is connecting to the network using new radio
technology to deliver new capabilities."
"The success of the 5G technological revolution must be measured
in truth and fact, not marketing hype," he wrote.
An AT&T spokesman says the company intends to fight the
lawsuit. According to the spokesman, the carrier introduced the 5G
Evolution idea more than two years ago as "a first step" in the
transition from LTE to "standards-based 5G." The 5G Evolution label
is meant simply to "let customers know when their device is in an
area where our network has been upgraded to enable faster speeds,"
the spokesman says.
T-Mobile US Inc., in a pre-Super Bowl press release, took jabs
at both AT&T's 5Ge effort and the new Verizon ad campaign. In
its release, T-Mobile, which refers to itself in some advertising
as "the Un-carrier, " wrote: "The Un-carrier is staying mum on what
exactly will be announced, but have assured fans they won't be
'Pulling a Verizon' (aka pretending they care about first
responders and then throttling them during an ACTUAL emergency) or
'Pulling an AT&T' (aka wasting your time with some stupid-a$$
5GE, F, G or whatever the hell that mess is)."
In response, a spokesman for AT&T says, "We're the first,
and still the only, company offering standards-based mobile 5G in
12 cities and will be nationwide with mobile 5G in early 2020." A
Verizon spokeswoman declined to respond.
Telecom carriers tend to make lots of claims about their
networks in their ads, says the National Advertising Division's Ms.
Brett. But, she adds, the carriers are more willing than companies
in other industries to regulate themselves and adjust their
messages when the NAD reviews a challenge to an ad claim and
recommends that the carrier stop making the claim.
While most disputes taken up by the NAD get resolved, some
don't, in which case they may go to the Federal Trade Commission.
The number of telecom cases that were reviewed and closed by the
NAD doubled to 14 in 2018 from seven in 2017, says Ms. Brett, who
declines to say whether there are other complaints yet to be
resolved.
Meanwhile, Sprint's Mr. Solé says, the competition in ads
surrounding 5G is likely to become even more intense. Marketing 5G
is going to require a lot of explanation, he says. "It's an
industry that's super competitive. We fight every quarter and every
month for our base."
Ms. Bruell is a Wall Street Journal reporter in New York. Reach
her at alexandra.bruell@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 26, 2019 22:16 ET (03:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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