Virgin Mobile USA Takes on T-Mobile in New Advertising Campaign

Virgin Mobile USA Dares Consumers to “Find a Better Android Plan” Than Unlimited Web, Data, Messaging, and Email at $35 a Month

WARREN, N.J. (BUSINESS WIRE), August 08, 2011 – Virgin Mobile USA is going head to head with T-Mobile in its new advertising campaign which highlights Virgin Mobile as the best value for Android smartphones. The broadcast commercials star Sparah™, Spencer Falls and Sarah Carroll, Virgin Mobile’s manufactured celebrity couple and tabloid darlings, and imitation AT&T and T-Mobile spokespeople. Launching today, the first of two spots opens on a stark white set with an imitation T-Mobile spokeswoman in the familiar pink patterned dress but takes a spin on this cliché backdrop advertising by transforming it into an energetic Virgin Mobile party and portraying the lifestyle Virgin Mobile customers enjoy.

In the first spot, called “Party,” Sparah enters the set pointing out the depressing décor. The T-Mobile spokeswoman agrees that it’s depressing and adds, “And imagine us being taken over by AT&T, who’s last in customer satisfaction¹.” The imitation AT&T spokesman enters the scene and the backdrop flips to a nightclub environment reflecting the vibrant Virgin Mobile brand as Sparah points out that T-Mobile and AT&T customers could always join Virgin Mobile and, “Our customers only pay $35 a month for unlimited data and messaging on cool Android-powered phones.”

“T-Mobile has anointed itself as the value leader in wireless,” said Bob Stohrer, vice president of Marketing, Virgin Mobile USA. “Yet they’ve conveniently left Virgin Mobile out of their comparison set, so we’re crashing their party. No matter how you dress their plans up, they’re no match for Virgin Mobile’s no-contract, Unlimited Data offering at $35/month coupled with Android-powered phones like the new Motorola Triumph.”

Virgin Mobile recently introduced the Motorola Triumph as its newest smartphone available on the Beyond Talk plans. Triumph coupled with the $35 monthly plan provides the greatest value² for an Android plan in the marketplace.

Sparah was first introduced in May in Virgin Mobile’s marketing campaign to tap into the country’s insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip. The manufactured couple has been covered in the mainstream media and often spotted out on the town in the elite Hollywood social scene.

“It’s a competitive market and we’re not going to shy away from an opportunity to debate things publicly so that consumers can see both sides of a story,” continued Stohrer.

The national commercials are running on cable and network television through the middle of September. Virgin Mobile’s campaign also includes cinema, national print, digital, web and point of sale materials daring customers to find a better Android plan.

ABOUT VIRGIN MOBILE USA

Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint’s prepaid brands, offers millions of customers control, flexibility and connectivity through Virgin Mobile’s Beyond Talk™ plans for mobile phone service and prepaid Broadband2Go high-speed Web access. Virgin Mobile branded devices are available at more than 40,000 retail stores, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target and Walmart. Top-Up cards are available at approximately 150,000 locations nationwide and can be used for Broadband2Go services. Purchase and experience Virgin Mobile on the Web and at Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and www.virginmobileusa.com.

¹ Customer satisfaction score based on American Customer Satisfaction Index 2011.
² Comparison based only on competitor pricing of monthly web and data plans for Android-powered phones. Voice offers and limited time offers excluded.