Advertising doesn't matter.

Goodby has done exemplary work in relaunching the Sprint brand. Yet in the last quarter alone, Sprint has "bled" 340,000 customers. That's despite spending $1.78 billion in advertising last year. Of course, advertising will get blamed for the loss. In fact, it wasn't long ago that Sprint pulled their account from TBWA/C/D and moved it to Goodby. http://adage.com/article?article_id=121003

Sprint's bleeding has nothing to do with advertising. It has everything to do with lousy customer service and a network that is as advanced as Amtrak's rail system where you can whiz from DC to New York at a speed slower than you could a century ago. This is yet another company that draws customers into its ranks only to lose them because they don't provide the service they promise.

I don't have an MBA like I'm sure a passel of Sprint people do. But I'm sure nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.

Sprint is looking for a new CEO. Let me throw my hat into the ring. The first move on my agenda? To take the billions spent on marketing and put it instead on building an up-to-date network and a service organization that actually serves. In other words, make Sprint the Nordstrom's of telcos. If they can do that, they won't even need to advertise. Their customers will do it for them.