UScellular taps creative AOR, releases fresh creative (Score 55)

Sales lead: Reach out now to offer ad space & inquire about potential agency opportunities. 

• UScellular appointed The Martin Agency as creative AOR in April 2023.
• The agency has already released a spot called "US Mode."
  • This is part of a campaign called "Phones Down For 5" that launched earlier this year. 
  • It is currently being supported across TV, OOH, social, radio, and digital. 
• This replaces incumbent shops Droga5, Leo Burnett, and Ketchum. 

Target demographic: Gen-Xers

The company will likely:

• Ramp up ad spend
• Review other agency relationships/hire additional agency assistance

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: UScellular spent $7k on national TV ads YTD after spending just $500 in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend equaled $2.8k in 2022. 
  • It did not allocate a significant budget toward this channel in 2021. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as The T.J. Otzelberger Show: Iowa State Basketball, UNI Panthers Sports Talk, NBA Basketball, World Poker Tour, and The Heartland. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: UScellular spent approximately $7.1m on digital display ads YTD, a huge jump from $1.6m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 812.8m impressions via Facebook (57%), YouTube (27%), Instagram (15%), and desktop display (1%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend dropped by 10% from $17.5m in 2021 to $15.7m in 2022.
• Ad location: It placed 100% of these ads directly onto sites such as facebook.com, youtube.com, instagram.com, packers.com, and msn.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: UScellular also invests in OOH, radio, and local broadcast. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: Agency appointments commonly follow one another, so reach out now to be top-of-mind. 
• Current roster:
  • Harmelin Media: brand media AOR 
  • Ovative Group: performance media AOR

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix.