Sprint to eradicate Nextel name

Sprint is wiping Nextel from its slogan.

After their merger, Sprint Nextel embarked on what analysts said was a disastrous marketing campaign. And problems with Nextel's network prompted an exodus of customers.

So now, the Reston company is hoping to reinvent its image around a new tagline — "Sprint ahead" — that ignores Nextel. It will also eliminate the Nextel name from the sponsorship of the main NASCAR racing series, one of Nextel's most successful branding campaigns before the merger. Starting next year, the Nextel Cup will be the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

New television commercials, online ads, billboards and movie theater ads will roll out Sunday at a critical time for the company. In addition to trying to improve the reputation of its network, Sprint is attempting to stave off competition from AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which have benefited from Sprint's steady loss of customers.

"This is the most important initiative the company's undertaken since the merger" in 2005, said Michael Nelson, an analyst with the Stanford Group, a New York investment firm. "This is going to be a defining moment in whether they can turn around their business." More at Washington Post