Sprint's Claure appeals directly to Hispanic market in new ad, touting value message

Sprint (NYSE: S) CEO Marcelo Claure is taking a page of out his predecessor Dan Hesse's playbook and will star in a new Sprint ad. Claure, a native Bolivian, speaks directly to the camera in Spanish in the new ad, which is targeted directly at the Hispanic market and aimed at highlighting Sprint's value proposition.

The ad is part of a wider campaign Claure is kickstarting to have Sprint engage more directly with the Hispanic community in the U.S. and, the company hopes, win over more customers as a result.

According to Sprint, the Spanish-language ad features Claure talking about "Sprint's commitment to offering more mobile for the money with 'the best value in wireless,' as well as providing the latest and greatest mobile devices." The company is describing Claure's comments in advance as "personable and directly relatable to the Hispanic consumer--a task he takes quite seriously given his Latino heritage and passion for the segment."

The new ad campaign will debut tonight during the Latin Grammy Awards on local Univision affiliates and will then hit the airways on all major Hispanic TV networks starting tomorrow. According to AdAge, Claure opens the ad by introducing himself, saying, "Hola, soy Marcelo Claure." He goes on to say, "Communication is easy, but cellular companies make everything complicated. We're changing that."

Claure adds: "I have a family like most and we're connected all the time. While I'm on the Internet buying things on my cell phone, the kids are on it watching videos and my wife is Skyping with her amigas." He closes by focusing on Sprint's value proposition with its Family Share Pack shared data plans: "For just $100 a month, your family can share 20 gigabytes of data. This is the best family plan in the industry!"

Highlighting the importance of the Latino market, in a memo to Sprint employees last week Claure said that "Hispanic/multi-cultural" will be one of Sprint's four main business units, along with postpaid, prepaid and enterprise. The company has not named an executive to lead the unit but expects to do so soon.

Sprint is not the only carrier targeting the Hispanic market specifically though. In May, Spanish-language broadcaster and media company Univision teamed up with T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) to launch its own branded MVNO, Univision Mobile, in a bid to create a mobile experience tailored to the needs and desires of Hispanic consumers.

Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's (NYSE: T) Mobile & Business Solutions Group, is also Latino, and was born in Cuba. AT&T has also long targeted the Hispanic community in its ads, at retail stores and via sponsorships.

Additionally, as Re/code notes, when Claure was CEO Brightstar prior to its acquisition by Sprint parent SoftBank, Claure drove forward a venture with Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), Jennifer Lopez and store operator Cellular Connection. The Viva Móvil venture was aimed at catering to the Latino market, especially in the New York City and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, but has not really taken off. The venture closed a Brooklyn store earlier this year, and a representative told Re/code in that the company's remaining partners were "evaluating each Viva Móvil location and its ability to meet performance expectations on an individual basis."

For more:
- see this release
- see this AdAge article
- see this Re/code article

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