Late yesterday, Sprint released a teaser for its Super Bowl ad from Deutsch LA “apologizing” to competitors Verizon and AT&T.
The teaser is a simple text scroll and accompanying voiceover imposed on an image of a sheep. Addressed to Verizon and AT&T, the ad claims Sprint owes these companies an apology — “not for cutting your customers’ rate plans in half — we’re gonna keep doing that” — but rather for comparing the brands to sheep in a recent advertisement. Sprint promises to apologize in the third quarter of the Super Bowl to make up for the whole “sheep thing,” but something tells us Deutsch LA has something other than a contrite apology up its sleeve.
The ad will mark Sprint’s fourth appearance in the big game and its first from Deutsch LA, who officially took over as Sprint’s agency of record last month (although rumors of Deutsch’s appointment began spreading over a month earlier).
Jeff Hallock, chief marketing officer for Sprint, hinted that the ad would deal directly with Sprint’s bill-cutting promise. “We have a very crowded industry, very competitive industry and there’s some confusion that comes in customers trying to understand plans and whatnot. We think with this promotion (cut your monthly bill in half), it’s the simplest thing for people to understand. So, we want to make sure we get the awareness as broadly as we can get on it,” he told Adweek.