Summary: Sprint has hired
"incredible actor" Ron Livingston for its commercials in the hope that he will
turn around customer defections.
Sprint Nextel hires 'Office Space' actor as
pitchman
Kansas City Business Journal - 10/20/06
Looking
for a jolt to turn around sagging subscriber additions, Sprint Nextel Corp. has
tapped actor Ron Livingston (L), who played Peter Gibbons in the movie "Office
Space," as its new corporate pitchman.
In a release Friday, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) said it would feature Livingston
"as a straightforward, relatable guy" in a series of new television
advertisements.
The company didn't disclose how much it is paying Livingston.
Before merging with Nextel Communications Inc. last year, Overland Park-based
Sprint Corp. made heavy use of Hollywood actors in its marketing.
Past Sprint spokespeople include Candice Bergen, Sela Ward and Brian Baker, who
played Sprint's ubiquitous trench coat-wearing pitchman. Nextel once relied
heavily on actor Dennis Franz in its ads.
Sprint Nextel said in the release that it won't feature Livingston in all of its
ads.
"This isn't about turning Ron Livingston into the face of Sprint," Mike Goff,
vice president of national advertising at Sprint Nextel, said in Friday's
release. "But Ron is an incredible actor, and we look forward to working with
him into the foreseeable future."
