Daily Archives: December 29, 2009

AT&T Vs. Verizon

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Coverage

In my mind Verizon is putting a beat down on AT&T when it comes to the wireless wars. By now everyone knows 3G is the network that runs iPhones and smartphones.  Most also know that iPhone coverage over the AT&T network is pretty poor, with dropped called aplenty.  If you know someone with an iPhone, you’ve heard the complaints.

Advertising

Then there’s the advertising.  Every day I open my paper paper to find three successive full page, all type, orange ads with B- headlines such as “Don’t dumb down your smart phone” or “Is AT&T Better? Appsolutely” or “When you compare, there’s no comparison.” Today’s investment in The New York Times alone probably cost north of $200,000.  These ads which have been running every day for weeks create no muscle memory for AT&T. Together they tout what I’m sure research indicates is AT&T’s 4 key customer advantages: “faster, simultaneous talk and web, most apps, and most popular.”  They package these 4 things under the line “a better 3G experience.” Too much.

Verizon on the other hand and its “phone wars” tested ad agency McCann-Erickson are pushing one primary idea: 3G coverage.  The brilliant TV ad where the kid’s dense Verizon map blocks out the football game creates a memorable game-changing branding idea.  Coverage.  It’s smart on so many levels. Coverage = no dropped calls = good sound quality = fast.  AT&T and BBDO need an idea (as in one) or it may soon be a TKO. Peace!