Verizon Says – A Little Advertising Jab Goes A Long Way

Poor Glass Joe. He sometimes deserves better than to be the defacto Easy mode for Punch-Out players everywhere.

Anyway, those of you who might not be aware, should probably pay attention to recent cellphone commercials from Verizon. The cellular provider has shifted from cute little commercials asking if you can hear them now to a bit of a new ad campaign aimed squarely at AT&T and its geekery tech phone flagship, the iPhone. You can find “There’s a Map for That” and the viral teaser for the new Motorola Droid (to be provided by Verizon and powered by Google’s Android OS) for just a couple examples.

I use Punch-Out as an example here to typify these new ads as  a bit of a jab at the competition – not as mean-spirited as a political ad, but not as nice as someone addressing the competition without speaking to it. There’s no doubt that Verizon, Google, and Motorola have their tongues firmly in their cheeks when they make ads like the above, but they’re also poking the hornet’s nest a little as well.

I can’t really complain about this even though some people think the ads are pretentious and smarmy. First is the fact that advertising in general needs a little bit more of an attention-grabber or difference to capture people’s attention these days. Traditional advertising, especially for technology, has really taken a hit as the normal methods are doomed to be fast-forwarded through a DVR recording. Taking a different approach to advertising, whether it is viral or through little jukes, jives and punches, is probably key to folks watching a commercial the whole way through. Say what you will about the expense of Super Bowl commercials – they always bring out non-traditional methods in PR folks.

The other argument I’d like to make as to why I’m happy about the presence of these new ads, is one I’ve used before with MMOs – competition drives innovation, and evolution. I’d argue that even the MMO genre’s 500-pound gorilla, WoW, has benefited from a bit of the jabby things that other MMOs have taken at it with their mechanics. WoW has had to change and adjust (and sometimes integrate) with the things other titles were doing to poke at its weaknesses.

I don’t think Apple is a stranger to this. After all, the same awfully negative things being said about the Verizon ad campaign could also be said of Apple’s little jabs at Microsoft with their “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads. It’s interesting that as Windows 7 hits stores this month, the experience that will be delivered is a more user-friendly, sleek look. Could this be the result of Apple’s little ad jabs? Maybe, right? It appears that turnabout is fair play, and we can only hope the iPhone can respond to Verizon’s jabs from the Motorola Droid in due time. Until then, bring on the light boxing match.