Too much advertising

[bpb]

I'm curious what others think about cell phone advertising. Personally, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed these days. I live in Aurora, IL, outside Chicago. Commercials here include Joan Cusak asking us to consider US Cellular, that Sprint guy asking us to consider Vision plans, and the Verizon guy asking us, "Can you hear me now? Good!". I get the SunTimes every day. I open the SunTimes, and it's the same thing, only with prices now. 39.99/month for x minutes, etc, etc. US Celluar, Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, AT&T, Cingular and independent agents.

All this advertising must be REALLY expensive. And it isn't even helpful. (Aside from knowing the prices and promotions, and when promotions expire.) What helped me the most when I enlisted with US Cellular recently was the consumer reports Feb issue, rating cell phones, and postings in this forum.

In all honesty, price is more important than advertising. I went with US cellular because the price was half that of verizon, for similar CDMA-type service, with triple the minutes. (I got the US Cellular $20/month for the first year, 900 anytime minutes promotion). As a consumer, if cell phone service were more like local telephone service (ie bland, reliable, cheap, small ad budget), that would be perfect. I guess what I'm saying is I think the emphasis in the cell phone industry is all wrong. Focus on providing good coverage, sell reliable phones, chuck the advertising. Also, as a consumer, I'm afraid that I'm when I pay my cell phone bill every month, too much of it goes into advertising and not enough into improving the infrastructure.

There seem to be some cell phone pros in this forum. I'm curious what they think the value of all this advertising is.

[t720]

Well...the case of advertising here on Long Island is to make yourself known. Because of all of the advertising they have made, Cingular has became one of the best known companies out here along with AT&T and Verizon. Before then, nobody had any clue who they were! I didn't even know who they were! I had heard of Nextel, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and VoiceStream (which is now T-Mobile)...but not Cingular. Now that I know about it, it was my 2nd choice in case AT&T didn't work well (but it's great). So, that's mainly the purpose of advertising, in Long Island's case. I'm not sure if it's for the same reason in Chicago.

[Joe0378]

As far as advertising, I wish Verizon would get rid of that "Can you hear me now....good" guy. It is real old and he is a little doofy looking, wearing his Verizon technician clothes on a beach or wherever he goes.

[mcf04581]

One day I will work in Marketing and Promotions and my first order of business is to kill off the "can you hear me now guy" We can just do like they did in the simpsons when they killed off poochie. We can just send him back to his home planet and let him get blown up!

[Testguy81]

Acutally advertising is important in any buisness. Verizon over a couple years ago was not very well known. The company was getting lost in the all the other cell phone companies. You want your comapny to stand out. Just as the Sprint guy says Its the static. These companies know they want there name to stick in your mind. McDonalds spends tons of money saying Have you had your break today? Its the way the world is. Second Cell phone service is never going to be like your home service. Theres alot more to your cell phone service then you ever know and alot more expenisve tech goes into it. Your local phone service has had the same lines for years and they are just ridding the cash cow as long as possible. So its easy to to keep the same equiment alot of years, as compared to the cell phone biz where your constantly updating and making it better all the time. This keeps your ahead of your competion. another thing is US. Cellular is not 1/16 as large as Verizon and doesn't have half the coverage we do. They are a small company. So where they can offer you cheapers service they can't offer what Verizon can. Its like comparing apples and oranges. theres no comparsion. No matter how dorky the guy is. He says what his company stands for. "WE NEVER STOP WORKING FOR YOU" hes always working to make the network better testing all the time. This actually ad has be come a very widely known ad. As well as put verizon on the map you can talk to someone without them knowing who the testguy is from verizon. And if advertising borthers you i would consider moving to the Mountians with no outside contact b/ its hear to stay from "Can you hear me now? Good" To "We never stop working for you" to "have you head your break today" to "Just do It" to whatever.. its always going to be around. So get used to it.

[t720]

Originally posted by: Testguy81
Acutally advertising is important in any buisness. Verizon over a couple years ago was not very well known. The company was getting lost in the all the other cell phone companies. You want your comapny to stand out. Just as the Sprint guy says Its the static. These companies know they want there name to stick in your mind. McDonalds spends tons of money saying Have you had your break today? Its the way the world is. Second Cell phone service is never going to be like your home service. Theres alot more to your cell phone service then you ever know and alot more expenisve tech goes into it. Your local phone service has had the same lines for years and they are just ridding the cash cow as long as possible. So its easy to to keep the same equiment alot of years, as compared to the cell phone biz where your constantly updating and making it better all the time. This keeps your ahead of your competion. another thing is US. Cellular is not 1/16 as large as Verizon and doesn't have half the coverage we do. They are a small company. So where they can offer you cheapers service they can't offer what Verizon can. Its like comparing apples and oranges. theres no comparsion. No matter how dorky the guy is. He says what his company stands for. "WE NEVER STOP WORKING FOR YOU" hes always working to make the network better testing all the time. This actually ad has be come a very widely known ad. As well as put verizon on the map you can talk to someone without them knowing who the testguy is from verizon. And if advertising borthers you i would consider moving to the Mountians with no outside contact b/ its hear to stay from "Can you hear me now? Good" To "We never stop working for you" to "have you head your break today" to "Just do It" to whatever.. its always going to be around. So get used to it.

That's just about what I said above. Thanks for repeating it though. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Testguy81]

I think i covered a little more then yours did.. As well as i answered more question then just advertising. Thank you very much