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Setting the Record Straight about Setting the Record Straight

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meAT&T is obviously worried. In my opinion they have a right to be. The Verizon ad campaign (There’s a Map for That) and the pounding AT&T has been receiving for its 3G woes has got to be hurting. AT&T thinks it is hurting enough that they’ve started legal action, asking for an injunction, against Verizon for the ads. While the legal tangles begin, AT&T has also put up a webpage that is aimed at consumers and Setting the Record Straight. That page has taken quite a bit of fire from many corners.

Let’s roll this back and think about it for just a minute. AT&T may have done some work recently to improve its 3G coverage in areas where it exists and expanded it in some areas. I can say that’s true here in my area as the coverage has indeed improved recently. They’ve even made some noise about that. But in the end,  this is about market share and mind share, and of course the biggest tool to create both is advertising. Advertising unfortunately cuts both ways as it creates an impression. We all know about ads that are deceptive, whether blatantly so, or not. Heck, if anyone doubted that all they’d need to do is watch Mad Men. But AT&T let this cat slip out of the bag long before Verizon decided to make its play. Note that the woes with AT&T’s network quickly moved from the blogosphere to the main stream media. AT&T may have been trying to combat the issue by coming clean with its network woes and promises of improvements, but let’s get real for a moment. If you’ve got the hottest product in the last decade that fails on your network in large urban centers full of influentials with big mouths, you’ve lost the battle before you’ve even started, no matter your advertising budget.

Now AT&T is talking apples and oranges with its PR play talking about the number of customers it reaches and where they live as the important statistic. Touting EDGE and GPRS coverage numbers as a part of that strategy is, in my pea brain, akin to advertising Windows by saying you can run a DOS prompt in today’s world. AT&T helped create that perception with its advertising and then failed to deliver on it. They gave Verizon the opening, and Verizon jumped on it. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long.

I’m reminded of a certain Chicago theatre company that was promoting a production of Our Town. The hype went something like this: When a  great theatre company brings you one of the world’s greatest plays it promises greatness. While the show wasn’t terrible, the reviews focused on the hype in the ads and essentially declared that the production wasn’t great. Game over. Jokes ensued. Legacy created.

You make your bed, you have to lie it. Intriguing when you think of the conjugation of the word lay.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. GoodThings2Life

    11/13/2009 at 10:34 am

    Very true, Warner! I completely agree!

    I not only find the Verizon ads humorous and laugh at them every time I see them, but actually yell out, “Take that AT&T!!”

    AT&T is just a horrible company to do business with and has been for years. Even at my business we’ve been dropping AT&T as a line provider and moving in different directions for our business communications because they’re impossible to work with reasonably.

    I say, if the shoe fits, wear it, and in this case, the Verizon ads point out a truth about AT&T that they need to do something about… and I don’t mean filing lawsuits!

  2. JD

    11/13/2009 at 11:24 am

    I live in a large metro area and have AT&T for my cell. Supposedly this is a full coverage area for 3G, but invariably I only get one or two bars at home. I have to be out of my apartment to get decent coverage, but if it is raining or very humid, the reception is poor inside. Now I know that humidity affects cell signal and I do live in a humid climate, but you would have thought that would have been accounted for by creating smaller areas for each cell tower to cover. And you would have also thought that they would have also taken into account the number of buildings in the area that are built with cinder block (which also seems to affect signal strength), but my guess is that they did not. If AT&T wants to be cheap with their network, eventually they will pay the price.

  3. Xavier

    11/13/2009 at 11:27 am

    Interesting how AT&T’s data map shows that my entire hometown of San Francisco is covered with 3G. Talk about misleading.

  4. HG

    11/13/2009 at 8:40 pm

    … and now AT&T has T-Mobile to worry about with 7.2 Mpbs HSPA coming in 2010.

  5. Ben

    11/14/2009 at 8:06 am

    Simple solution people…DON’T BUY AN IPHONE! Hearing people complain and moan about coverage who bought an iphone is like hearing people complain about a politician who wins and they didn’t even vote in the election.

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