Boost Mobile has created quite a stir in the prepaid cellular arena with its $50 a month flat rate plan, which includes voice and data. Boost recently kicked the program into high gear, re-tooling its marketing and building a new image for the company. A prime mover in the on-going effort is Jeff Auman, VP, Sales and Distribution. He is unapologetically enthusiastic about the new image, the company, its products and what he believes to be Boost’s effort to “make the world a better place.” We caught him on the way to a dentist’s appointment, a fact which did nothing to quell his passion.

GR:  What kind of cellular user is being attracted to Boost’s flat rate plans?
JA: Typically ten lines and less, so small individually owned businesses, non-corporate liable, individual liable that have teams of folks that are looking for durable handsets and the push to talk feature of the walkie-talkie that we offer - with the risk-free value of 50 bucks unlimited.

GR:  How does the economy today impact this? Is it a factor?
JA: I believe that people are looking to be very value-conscious at this point. I certainly am. I think we learned that history repeats itself. Hopefully, we don’t get to the point where we were in the 30s with the Great Depression. But, one lesson to be learned from that period of time is that it changes people.

GR:  Change in what way?
JA:  I think you are going to see a sustaining change in people looking harder for the best value. Value can be defined as a great deal, but also in not sacrificing quality. We are seeing that on the consumer front. Boost was not a brand that was particularly broad in nature, and we have repositioned to be much more broad in nature. People are looking at Boost in a different way, as the best value in the industry and not sacrificing quality. Customers that buy at Best Buy and Radio Shack are choosing us. 

GR:  When you say “reposition,” you mean your branding, right?
JA: We purposely repositioned Boost to target a much broader mass market audience. For many in the marketplace, Boost was an unfamiliar brand. Today, our brand awareness is at an all-time high and continues to improve. People are now considering Boost along with other major brands, like Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.  We know who we are. We are for connection-centric customers, people who are looking for unlimited talk, text, web and walkie-talkie at a great value. We are not providing 3G services. The value conscious consumer is who we have been targeting and that’s who we are seeing come into this non-contract space.

GR:  Is the repositioning done?
JA: There is certainly more work to be done on that front. We are continuing to improve brand awareness of Boost.

GR:  How are you doing that?
JA: We are doing that in a number of ways, not only national advertising. We are very concentrated on word of mouth, on the strength of our distribution partners to communicate Boost and the value proposition. Then, there are our sponsorships. If you like Indy racing, you know that Danica Patrick now drives the Number 7 Boost Mobile machine. She is very much a mainstream iconic celebrity superstar, I believe number one or two in auto racing celebrities. We are repositioning the brand through sponsorships, advertising, local marketing and will continue to press forward. You will see Boost being associated more with youth sports, particularly soccer.

GR:  You said that part of your strategy was to get your retail partners to push the brand, right?
JA: That was number one. Our strategy coming into this was three-fold. First, we had to engage our channel partners, both national retail and local indirect. We did that by going face to face nationwide through over 50 market rallies. We got with our local indirect partners and articulated the value proposition, what we are going to bring to the marketplace. We did that on the national retail front with corporate headquarters and store employees.
The second element was to reposition the brand into new segments of the marketplace. So, we identified specific segments and found media to advertise to. So, you saw Boost on national prime time TV – Grey’s Anatomy, The Bachelor.
The third element was to expand our device portfolio. We have just introduced another device called the Clutch. It’s a great text messaging device. We wanted to increase the breadth of our portfolio to insure that we offered a device solution to the mass market.

GR:  A key part of this strategy is an effective salesperson to customer interface, right?
JA: We have found that a consultative sale is our best solution because, as long as your salesperson is well informed, [he or she] can articulate the value of the Boost offer. On the surface, $50 is not the lowest advertised price, but an educated person selling the product is able to articulate that there are no hidden fees, no hidden charges, no roaming fees. You get a great durable handset, and there is no contract. We really do well in the consultative selling environment and our national retail partners have really gotten behind us and have found that it appeals to their market.

GR:  How do you get the retail partners engaged like that?
JA: You have to have great partnerships. You have to be able to have a field team that visits locations and is welcomed into it. We found that in Radio Shack, Target and Best Buy. Also, Walmart. We are going down the right path. Brand awareness is improving and increasing our points of distribution. Having a balanced distribution approach, 50% national retail, 50% local indirect and continuing to evolve our devices is our strategy.

GR: You obviously feel very passionate about what you are doing. 
JA: I’ll be honest, where a lot of where that passion comes from was us being very local in nature and with the leadership teams being out in the marketplace and talking to our distribution partners. The positioning that we have taken is a no BS approach and filter to how we offer our product is really resonating. I remember being in Washington, DC and a gentleman named Herman was actually in tears. He said for a lot of the customer base that he serves, they felt cheated. They felt as though no matter where they go through life, they pay more. They pay more for loans, they pay premiums to get their checks cashed. Some pay more for health care. We have taken a position that we are going to right the wrongs, and we are going to offer straight forward value proposition that is the best deal out there. Not just the cheapest, it is also high quality. We really believe in what we are doing. We are making the world a better place.

GR:  Making the world a better place, one handset at a time?
JA: <laughs> Yes!

Jeff Auman is Vice President, Sales and Distribution, Boost Mobile.  For more information on Boost Mobile, visit www.boostmobile.com.