NEW YORK Sprint and Nextel Communica-
tions have chosen Sprint to be the “master brand” name for the soon-to-be-merged companies, the firms said today.
The companies also unveiled a new logo and said the Nextel name will would still be used to brand business-oriented products, such as walkie-talkie phones.
The selection of Sprint as the main brand name was expected [Adweek, June 6].
“The Sprint name, brand attributes and the sentiment they evoke in minds of consumers are relevant today and provide a great foundation for the future,” said Mark Schweitzer, svp of marketing at Nextel and designated chief marketing officer for the new company. “The combination of these characteristics of the Sprint name with the infusion of Nextel’s professional-grade characteristics and key elements of the Nextel visual identity are consistent with what the new company aspires to be.”
The companies, whose merger is expected to be completed in the third quarter, perhaps as early as August, also said that future Sprint ads would use the line, “Together with Nextel,” while ads featuring Nextel products would say, “Together with Sprint.”
Today’s news comes a week after Sprint and Nextel selected Omnicom Group’s TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York—Nextel’s lead agency—to handle the campaign to launch the new brand as well as ads targeting consumers [Adweek Online, June 17]. Last week, the companies also picked Sprint lead agency Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco—a Publicis Groupe shop—to handle ads targeting businesses, and sister agency Frankel in Chicago, to handle promotional duties.
Sprint and Nextel left open the question of which agency would handle media duties and tasks such as direct and interactive marketing and ads directed at Hispanics. Those assignments are expected to be made before the $35 billion merger is finalized.
Combined Telecom Dubbed Sprint
