Centennial Wireless Promotes Local Calling Plans

Centennial Wireless suggests that most of its customers don’t need nationwide calling plans in a holiday television campaign from CVR/MARC.

The first of three spots from the Indianapolis shop broke yesterday in the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based client’s markets in Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas.

Two of the ads feature Santa Claus touting the benefits of a Centennial Wireless phone. In one, Santa meets with a Centennial employee. “So you have friends and family all over the country, but you only leave your hometown once a year,” the worker says, advising him that he does not need a nationwide calling plan.

In concentrating on the use of the phones for local calls, the spots push a message that Centennial is more personal than its competitors, which include Sprint, Verizon and Voicestream, said Bryan Hadlock, the shop’s creative director.