Millennial Media Opps: Cricket launches campaign after hiring CMO (Score 71)

Wireless provider Cricket recently launched a campaign that animates WWE superstars in stop-motion. Developed by creative AOR Argonaut, the initiative aired on ABC during Dancing With The Stars; three spots rolled out across social media platforms and will expand to TV and OLV. Sellers, contact soon to see what last-minute ad dollars you can secure.

According to iSpot, Cricket has spent approximately $39.2m on national TV commercials YTD, down 11% from the approximately $44m it spent within the same 2020 timeframe. The company ended up spending approximately $58.5m on this channel last year, down 5% from the approximately $61.6m it spent in 2019. Cricket's 2021 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as MLB Baseball, NFL Football, NBA Basketball, La Rosa de Guadalupe and SportsCenter.

So far this year, Pathmatics reports the company has allocated roughly $17.6m toward digital ads, down 29% from the roughly $24.7m it had allocated by this point last year. Cricket's estimated full-year 2020 spend of $28.5m only reached less than a third of that of $93m in 2019. It has earned around 2.1b digital impressions YTD via Facebook (52%), desktop video (16%), desktop display (13%), Instagram (12%), mobile display (4%) and Twitter (2%) ads. 

Additionally, Magellan shows Cricket has aired 33 podcast ads within the past 12 months.

Spend will hopefully pick back up soon in support of this new campaign. Right now, Cricket's primarily targeting millennials, so sellers able to offer high-ROI strategies among this audience will have an advantage. The company's TV commercials target both English- and Spanish-speaking viewers. Per Kantar data, Cricket also invests in OOH, radio and local broadcast.

Agency & martech readers - We haven't heard of any roster shifts since the wireless carrier hired VP and CMO Tony Mokry earlier this year, so get in touch soon if you haven't yet done so. Along with creative AOR Argonaut, Cricket works with TPN (creative) and Hearts & Science (media).