• by Erik Oster , March 27, 2024

When it comes to wireless plans, it’s easy to feel like the grass is always greener with a different carrier. Wireless companies routinely offer enticing deals solely available to new customers, often with short expiration dates, while providing little incentive for customer loyalty.

UScellular saw an opportunity to flip the script with its “US Days” campaign offering existing customers a series of deals and in-store giveaways during the event. It’s celebrating loyal customers by placing them center stage in its accompanying campaign, created in partnership with The Martin Agency.

“We leaned into the insight that customers have come to expect loyalty and perks but in the wireless category, deals and promotions are often only offered to new customers. Once you’ve joined a carrier, you stop getting access to those same deals,” The Martin Agency senior strategist Allie Ballard told Marketing Daily. “Our goal was to ensure UScellular’s long-standing commitment to customers came through, not only with special deals and unique offers for existing customers, but by featuring some of the brand’s real, loyal customers in the campaign to highlight their authentic, personal stories about what connection means to them.”

The campaign kicked off earlier this month with an ad starring a 64-year-old graduate student named Bobbie, who has been a UScellular customer for six years. “US Days’ will run across broadcast, digital, OOH, radio and streaming audio, YouTube, paid and organic social, as well as local and retail initiatives, as it puts everyday customers in the role of providing the brand’s pitch across a series of ads.

“We selected customers we felt best represented UScellular’s current customer base -- and those who had great personal stories to share and were genuinely excited about our US Days campaign, which we saw come through when shooting,” UScellular CMO Eric Jagher said.

The campaign’s turn to customer testimonials marks a major departure in the brand’s marketing approach, which has typically relied on humor in its past advertising.