Posts Tagged: verizon network

advertising / creative / strategy — 5 Comments
9
Dec 09

AT&T takes Verizon head-on

[Sorry, the commercial referenced here has disappeared from YouTube]

Droid vs. iPhone. Verizon vs. AT&T. To the spectators’ delight, we have a war on two fronts. And now we have AT&T lobbing a new grenade over the fence.

But first, a recap:

Apple planted the seed for this fight when they chose AT&T as iPhone’s exclusive carrier in the US. That put the nation’s most loved phone on the nation’s least loved network. It also gave Verizon an opening, assuming they might one day find another hot phone to hawk — which they did in Droid.

Then the fun started. Verizon slapped AT&T with its “there’s a map for that” stuff. They got silly with misfit toys. AT&T threw half a punch back with some lame Luke Wilson spots. Apple tried to speak rationally about the differences between networks while Droid burst in chainsawing bananas.

After whining to the courts and getting nowhere (Judge Droid?), AT&T is back at it with this new Luke Wilson spot. Creatively, it’s fairly harmless. But it’s all part of the chess game, and that’s what makes it fun to watch. (War, boxing, chess — have I exceeded the metaphor limit yet?)

To their credit, AT&T is presenting a simple argument: we’ve got a faster network. (It’s actually more clear than Apple’s attempted Verizon-bashing.) Verizon has their simple argument: we’ve got a bigger network. That would be a tough choice for most people.

So who wins the big fight? Nobody. And who wins the customer? AT&T. Because when the heavyweight match ends in a draw, all you can do is go with the best phone. And you know what that is.

advertising / creative / strategy — 16 Comments
25
Nov 09

Apple gets a little tetchy

Uh oh. I’m sensing a disturbance in The Force.

This is one of two new spots that just started running for iPhone. Both are doing something iPhone has never done before: they’re responding to an alarm. It seems that Verizon is scoring points with their relentless pounding of the widely disliked AT&T network, and it’s getting hard to ignore.

These commercials put up a decent defense but, unsurprisingly, they feel a bit defensive.

The network vs. network argument is actually a distraction for Apple. Because when they talk about the network, they stop talking about their truly monstrous advantage — 100,000 apps. They’re reduced to claiming simultaneous voice and data capability. In this sub-debate, whose advantage would you really prefer? Apple’s simultaneous thing, or Verizon’s vastly larger network that doesn’t drop calls?

Both of the new iPhone spots give us examples of AT&T’s “superiority,” then deliver the punch line: Can your phone and your network do that? The challenging, inelegant tone actually feels more like Verizon than Apple.

To be honest, I find it odd that Apple is even suiting up for this fight. The crummy network is AT&T’s fault. If the ship is springing a few leaks, I’d expect Apple to fire off a note to AT&T: “If you really love me, you’ll go beat up Verizon for me.” Who knows, maybe they’ve gone back and forth on that one.

Whatever their mission, Apple’s creative standards can’t be compromised. If they feel it’s important to go toe-to-toe with Verizon on the network issue, they have to find an Apple-like way to do that. They’ve pummeled their foe masterfully in the Mac vs. PC campaign. Surely they can find a way to slap Verizon around — and entertain us along the way.