Facing inevitable competition, Ameritech launched a new advertising campaign Monday touting customer service. The campaign comes at a time when a key indicator of customer dissatisfaction with the telephone company–no phone service for more than a day–remains high in Illinois.
Since Ameritech was formed in 1993, it has been virtually the only player in its five-state region. A complaint has been on file with the Illinois Commerce Commission since 1996, charging the company with serious service lapses.
Ameritech has said that reducing service problems has been a priority and that it has been adding more manpower to solve them. Yet, company executives said Monday that the new campaign is not a response to any customer dissatisfaction. Ameritech marketing executives said that interviews with thousands of customers in a market-research campaign show 95 percent are pleased with the service they are getting.
Also, consumer awareness–the number of customers who know what Ameritech is and does–has increased from 8 to 95 percent of customers since 1993, the company says.
“We’ve accomplished the goal of brand building in terms of awareness,” said Joan Walker, senior vice president of corporate communications. “Now, we’re focusing not on awareness but on choice.”
That means Ameritech’s new advertising, which features the tag line “In a world of technology, people make the difference,” is designed to boost customer loyalty before any threat emerges from potential telecommunication rivals.
“They are trying to insulate themselves from the impending invasion of competitors,” said Martin Cohen, executive director of Citizens Utility Board, which has had a complaint filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission since 1996 regarding what it says are serious lapses in Ameritech’s service. “Most people have not experienced service problems with the company. It’s when it gets to be a problem in the network or when you move or a change in your installation. That’s when you experience the problems.”
Still, of the Ameritech customers who reported service disruptions from January through April, the percentage of those reporting their phones were out for longer than 24 hours ranged from 10.8 to 21.7 percent, records from the state commerce commission show. Those figures remain well above the 5 percent benchmark the phone company has promised state regulators it would maintain.
The new TV campaign, created by New York-based Ammirati Puris Lintas, features heartwarming ads set to music and scenes of a family member talking about a particular Ameritech worker’s dedication. In one, the wife of an Ameritech repairman says of her husband: “I believe that man dreams about the customer.”
Ameritech said this year’s advertising budget will not exceed last year’s $73.2 million, according to New York-based Competitive Media Reporting.
Walker, who joined the company last year, was instrumental in consolidating most of Ameritech’s advertising under Ammirati Puris Lintas this summer. Leo Burnett Co. and DDB Needham Chicago lost business in the process; however, Burnett still buys ad time and space for the phone company.
As part of that consolidation and a reallocation of other resources, Walker said the company is spending $1 billion on the new customer-service strategy over the next three years that includes a “customers first” training program for employees.
