It’s the Brand, Silly

090415_cellpicIt’s tax day. So I need something else to think about.

Since all cellular phone services are fundamentally the same, why would a group of people with similar demographic and psychographic profiles favor one over the others? Here’s another example of brand preference. Cellular companies, are you paying attention?

In a 2008 National Report, The Media Audit published a cellular phone study that reveals the demographic profile and media habits among customers of the major carriers are distinct and may warrant different media tactics to attract new customers (http://www.themediaaudit.com ). The study analyzes four of the major carriers – Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile, as well as 15 additional national and regional cell carriers.

The study found that users of Sprint Nextel wireless are:

  • Most likely to be heavy users of radio – 22.7% spend three or more hours listening per day
  • More likely to be employed in a blue collar occupation (nearly one in five) or as a business owner/partner or corporate officer – 36% more likely than other cell carrier customers

The same study reveals that users of T-Mobile are:

  • Most likely to be heavy Internet users – 43.6% spend three or more hours per day online (22% higher than the national average)
  • Younger – 43.7% are between the ages of 18 and 34, and 64.5% are between the ages of 18 and 44.
  • More ethnic – 37% more likely to be Hispanic and 35% more likely to be African American compared to the general population.

As for Verizon and AT&T, those users are:

  • Among the most affluent – 28.2% of Verizon customers have household incomes over $100,000 while 27.4% of AT&T customers earn the same
  • Most likely to be heavy newspaper readers – customers of both carriers are more likely to spend an hour or more per day reading a newspaper

Based on this study, how would you expect each company to shape its messages and what advertising channels do you think they should use? Hmmmm?

Posted by: Andrea Fitting
in: Words of Wisdom
at: 1:47 pm
Keywords: Advertising, AT&T, brand, brand preference, cellular companies, messages, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, tax day, Verizon Wireless


This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 1:47 pm and is filed under Words of Wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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