Sprint skips the Kansas City area in network ad plans

Marcelo Claure likes to say Sprint’s network is getting better every day. And the chief executive officer said he’s ready to promote it in the company’s advertising.

But not everywhere, and notably not in the Kansas City area, where the company is based. Not yet anyway.

Sprint advertisements had touted “America’s Newest Network” when Claure became Sprint’s CEO last August. The company had just finished its Network Vision upgrade.

“I ordered those (ads) to be taken down because I thought they were misleading,” Claure said.

Newer did not mean better. Sprint’s network rating at the time was last in almost all markets rated by RootMetrics.

Sprint ads switched to offering customers more value for their money than the other companies offered.

Now, however, Sprint is winning first place ratings from RootMetrics, 104 recently to be exact, up from just a dozen a year ago. For example, it tied for best overall performance in Las Vegas, won for speed in Dayton, Ohio, and tied for reliability and call performance in St. Louis.

“I feel that in many places in the U.S. our network is ready. You’re going to see value plus network” in Sprint’s ads, Claure said.

Kansas City is not on Claure’s network advertising schedule. He said he hasn’t been happy with the progress here, through the network is making progress in the company’s backyard.

Sprint has installed stronger wireless service at Kansas City area stadiums, and Claure said he is getting good feedback from consumers at those football, baseball and soccer games.

Network ads in Kansas City, however, will wait for more improvements.

“You can’t ask people to support their hometown company until the network is at its best,” Claure said. “When that happens, you’re going to see us make a huge appeal to the community to support their hometown company.”

That time is close, Claure said, certainly by the time he hits his one-year anniversary at Sprint this August.

This story was originally published May 5, 2015 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Sprint skips the Kansas City area in network ad plans."