Out: the pink sundress and cute attitude. In: black leather and a Ducati motorcycle. This is the latest plan by T-Mobile, the fourth largest wireless carrier in the U.S., as it struggles against the competition. After their failed merger with AT&T, T-Mobile needs a new message to consumers to stay relevant in the highly competitive wireless environment. And they rolled out that message recently.
“No More Mr. Nice Girl” will be the new T-Mobile tag line for the once cute and bubbly Carly Foulkes, as their new strategy focuses on the speed and size of their 4G network. The new black leather look isn’t only for Carly, but also for the T-Mobile brand itself. The message change is designed to get people to think of T-Mobile when choosing a wireless carrier, something they’ve struggled with, particularly with their lack of an iPhone offering.
T-Mobile’s SVP of brand, advertising and communications says Carly’s new look isn’t targeted at a specific gender. In fact, they believe it’s mutually attractive to both male and females; the confidence of Carly will be a strong interest to women. But with gender aside, it’s clear that T-Mobile wants to settle the score: they have the nation’s largest 4G wireless network.
The new look will certainly stand out, but not just because it’s radically different than T-Mobile’s previous advertisements. It shows that T-Mobile isn’t sitting still and that they realized a change was needed to better compete in the industry. They have over one million iPhone users on their network. They want that device and it’s clear it would add to their appeal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OIWfmjnJPs
Will the black leather Carly bring in more customers? That’s always the hardest question to answer in marketing. She does have a stronger appeal than her previous look, but T-Mobile will need to do more than that. Their 4G network needs more attention and device exclusives, even only for a limited time, could begin to attract new customers.
