• by Aaron Baar , February 6, 2017

Dealing with pay-television providers is a notoriously frustrating endeavor for consumers, with long waits for customer service (on the phone and in-person), confusing pricing packages and a general dissatisfaction with experiences overall. 

Satellite provider Dish is looking to change that image with a new brand promise, “Tuned in to you,” that says it will be more attuned to its customers and more reactive to their concerns. 

“We want America to know we are dedicated to being a customer-centric company,” Jay Roth, Dish’s chief marketing officer, tells Marketing Daily. “Some of the best ideas we’ve had have come from our customers.”

At the center of the promise is a new marketing campaign that introduces a new “spokeslistener” character. In new commercials rolling out this week (from agency Camp + King), the character reacts differently than the typical spokesman, listening to consumers’ specific issues with pay-television. 

In one spot, the character sits in a man’s living room as he begrudgingly accepts his fate of paying for football-related channels even after the season is over. “Let’s change that,” the spokeslistener comments.  In an anthemic introductory spot, the character ties innovations such as launching its own satellites, flexible pricing programs and commercial-skipping DVRs to its new promise saying: “When we’ve gotten it right — really right — it was when we were listening. Not to ourselves. Not to Wall Street. Not to industry experts, but to our customers.” The customer notes that he’s a one-of-a-kind listener “in an industry that doesn’t.”

“He’s somebody who works for the customer first and second for Dish,” Roth says. “He understands the pain points people have.”

In addition to the television spots, the character will appear in radio commercials, online in digital ads, on the company’s website, and in social media posts. “We’re going to developing characteristics in the coming months to show he’s a character of personality,” Roth says. 

To follow through on this brand promise, the company has begun an extensive employee training program that establishes the guidelines and expectations the company has for every customer interaction, Roth says. That includes the establishment of an immersive “Base Camp” training program in which corporate employees work in the field gaining practical experience such as fielding billing- and tech-related customer calls and sales inquiries to going out in the field to observe the in-home services.

“‘Tuned in to you’ is not simply a marketing campaign,” Roth says. “[Customers want] a company that’s going to look out for them, that listens to them and reacts accordingly.”