• by Aaron Baar , August 5, 2010

In February, Sprint introduced its all-inclusive $69.99 voice and data plans through television advertising featuring CEO Dan Hesse directly addressing viewers. Now, six months later, the company feels the message has gotten through to consumers and it can shift its strategy to a more lighthearted, less-direct approach.

"While [Hesse] is the person who announces new and groundbreaking news, we don't use him for continuing promotions," Stacey Shupert, an advertising manager for Sprint, tells Marketing Daily. "The $69.99 plan has proven to be a good plan for us; Dan has been effective in providing that message."

But as the message has taken hold, it was time to evolve that strategy to keep people interested, she says. "We've taken a humorous approach, with these relatable [situations]," she says. "It's fueled by the insight that people rarely use their phones to [just] talk anymore. We have changed and so have phones."

Two new television ads depict characters who interact in myriad ways with their wireless phones beyond simply making calls. In a commercial breaking this week, a man and a woman sit across from each other in a diner booth. The man looks at his phone and says he just got a text from the woman saying she was breaking up with him. "Don't worry about that," she responds. "I switched to Sprint's $69.99 plan, so I wasn't charged extra."

She then sends an e-mail -- also free -- to the man with the same message, and updates her Facebook relationship status to "single." The commercial ends with her making a call to her now ex-boyfriend, showing all the various forms of communication covered under Sprint's plan.

A second commercial, which will begin airing during football season, depicts a football player getting bad news via his phone from a trainer. For now, the two commercials are the only ones created promoting the Everything Data plan, but more are expected through the end of the year, Shupert says.