What Does Sprint Know About Marketing That You Don’t?

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I admit it. I may be the only one on the planet who actually reads legal copy.

Not all the time, mind you. Just occasionally. But this time, it was worth it.

Apparently the person in charge of writing the legal copy on a recent Sprint ad (yes, there are people who actually have to type that stuff) had the smarts to talk to me like a human being.

“Okay, take a deep breath,” starts the copy, which then proceeds to have a little fun with the fact that all great promotional offers are followed by teeny-tiny legal copy.

In this particular case, the legal copy wasn’t going to void the offer — quite the opposite, it was going to support it. Better still, the copy rewarded me with a nice, talkative commentary on the nature of legal copy and the nature of Sprint.

Which brings up my key point — when you’re talking to your customers, talk to them like human beings. Your brand is reflected in everything you do — in your logo, in your headlines and, yes, even in your legal copy.

Perhaps David Ogilvy summed it up best when he said, “The consumer isn’t a moron. She’s your wife.”

David’s wisdom is great advice for marketers of every generation.

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Time Wednesday, May 28th, 2008, 11:40 am   |   CategorySprint  |  RssRSS feed |  CommentRespond  |  TrackbackTrackback

  • Josh

    That’s a very interesting note about the legal and something I don’t really recall seeing anywhere else. Maybe it will catch on. However, I recently read an article citing Sprint as losing 1 million cell phone subscribers in the first quarter of 2008. While they are writing fun legal, it seems Sprint has bigger issues.

  • Jamie Turner

    Well said, Josh, whomever you may be. The bottom line is results and you can write all the fun legal copy you want, but if sales drop, you’re not focusing on the right stuff.

    You’ve had some good training.

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