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On Wednesdays we wear pink
A particular pink-clad cell phone carrier has spent the last few years grasping at straws hoping for one of their marketing ploys to stick.
T-Mobile has a new straw they’re grasping for. More specifically, they’re aiming for the 55+ crowd.
Checking ID for 55
That’s right, you read that correctly. T-Mobile is going after those 55+ empty nesters. They’re offering the older adults sans kids – whether that’s by choice or they’ve finally gotten them off their nickel – a new plan.
The plan really isn’t terrible minus one glaring caveat.
For $50 you get one line with an unlimited plan. The caveat is that you have to sign up as a couple. Also. the second line costs $10.
When it’s all said and done and they’ve checked your ID to verify your age, $60 for an unlimited plan for two is a steal. The T-Mobile 55+ plan costs less than a regular unlimited plan for one user.
There’s a market
Currently there are plans for people with gigantor families and then there are borderline barbaric plans for seniors (by barbaric I mean that some of the existing seniors plans are voice to voice only and don’t include even a MB of data).
There’s definitely a market for a data plan like this, though. Seeing as, you know, the adults 55+ are the ones who actually invented wireless phones it makes total sense that T-Mobile would throw that generation a bone.
AT&T have a similar idea for baby boomers with their Senior Nation plan for users 65 or older. However, the Senior Nation plan is a joke in and of itself as it offers only 200 anytime minutes, 500 night and weekend minutes, and unlimited calling to other AT&T customers. Not to mention it isn’t even available for eligibility on smartphones or tablets.
Maybe, jut maybe
I still remember when the T-Mobile sidekick was their biggest marketing schtick. Followed by a few other fails including, but not limited to, a free-stuff-Tuesdays gimmic. Oh! and the #NeverSettleForVerizon twitter campaign that failed epically and costed them $200,000 when it was over.
Marketing seems to be T-Mobile’s achilles heel, but maybe, just maybe, they’re onto something this time.
