• Ad Age, Friday, October 1, 2010 8:03 AM

U.S. Cellular is launching a loyalty program that rewards subscribers with points that they can use to get phone upgrades up to eight months earlier than industry standards, Kunur Patel reports. They can also use them for free ringtones or apply them to over-use charges.

The program is called Belief Project. A campaign, titled "Wake Up," which includes TV, outdoor and digital, launches today. "This is an unprecedented push for the carrier with more media spending overall," a U.S. Cellular spokesman said.

The campaign, which will include social media, is the first major marketing effort under president-CEO Mary Dillon, who formerly was global chief marketer for McDonald's. Plans for the program were underway before Dillon arrived but she was influential in honing the message and the focus on customers, according to Edward Perez, vp-marketing and sales operations.

"It's an area the whole industry is looking at," says analyst Jeff Kagan. "But there are dangers. With the airline industry, it can grow so big and take on a life of its own, where it gets to a point that you can't take it down even if you might eventually want to."

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