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Latest Verizon Ad Proves It Has No Clue How to Market 4G LTE

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The title says it all. It’s becoming quite clear that Verizon or the company it has hired to do its marketing has absolutely no idea how to market smartphones or the carrier’s 4G LTE network. The Motorola Droid Bionic commercials have been terrible for the most part and the advertising that it has done for its next-gen 4G LTE network, a market that is currently dominates, has been nothing short of atrocious.

The Motorola Droid Bionic is arguably the most powerful phone on the market right now but it’s one that probably isn’t selling as well as Verizon has hoped considering Amazon has dropped it to $150 just a few weeks after its release. And while that probably has a lot to do with timing, the Nexus Prime and the iPhone 5 are in bound, I’ve also argued that it has a lot to do with the dreadful marketing.

I honestly didn’t think it could get any worse but a commercial for the recently released (and reviewed) Pantech Breakout signals to me that Verizon has absolutely no clue what it’s doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8tItnWtl2I

Instead of touting the Breakout’s cheap price tag, it’s the cheapest 4G LTE phone on Verizon, or even talking about the benefits of 4G LTE itself, Verizon thinks it’s smart to delve into things like texting and Yelp.

And that’s just the beginning.

The commercial is as cheesy as it gets and it likely won’t resonate with a single person on this planet. It’s mind boggling to say the least and as I’ve said before, it has me extremely worried for upcoming phones like the HTC Vigor and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which may suffer the same fate as the Droid Bionic.

And that would be an absolute shame, not only for the phones themselves, but for Android and for average users that won’t pick up these gorgeous devices.

I can’t believe I am saying this, what with a grand total of five LTE markets in place, but AT&T has a real chance to take advantage of Verizon’s lack of vision, especially if it can produce a fantastic ad campaign for its upcoming LTE superphone, the HTC Holiday.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Adam Truelove

    09/30/2011 at 1:05 pm

    Forget Yelp, how can I get my hands on some VZ Navigator!!!!

  2. FanDroid619

    09/30/2011 at 3:14 pm

    I agree with this article completely. VZW ad campaigns are simply horrendous! AT&T knows how to market to the hearts and minds of the consumer, which is why it still stands strong even though their network is quite meh! to say the least.

  3. Stertjasonbucks

    09/30/2011 at 3:48 pm

    Actually I love how these fail! This could help drive down the prices ;p ituink the stuff they showed in the commercial my grandmas phone cam do ha

  4. Michael

    09/30/2011 at 3:57 pm

    Agree completely with the article! And to think VZ is paying someone big money to come up with something so lame….

  5. Tshirtbill

    09/30/2011 at 4:35 pm

    at 1:11 the girl in the gray dress, had a little gas… twice…

  6. Anonymous

    09/30/2011 at 5:15 pm

    Christ almighty, that was bad.  Makes me want to join Cricket Mobile…

  7. Ifthecar

    10/02/2011 at 12:06 pm

    What guy would stop talking to a hot girl, just because his buddy is lost and texted him to save his bored self.

  8. Onewomanmachine

    10/29/2011 at 4:09 am

    The commercial was kind of cheesy – but the target audience was met. The Breakout is for people who have never had a smart phone before and would like to ease their way into the smart phone world. The Breakout was never meant for people who have an interest in any of the major Droid phones out there (Bionic, X2, 3, Revolution, etc). This also gave people an added incentive to upgrade to a smart phone by giving them a 4g capable phone (making it more appealing than an iphone or a blackberry). There are plenty – PLENTY – of ads out there for the 4g LTE network. This was just a modest, but effective, AD to try and lure that last little group of non smart phone users out by showing them useful things a smartphone is capable of while, at the same time, not scaring them away with technological specs and numbers and pointing out that their favorite features from old phones are still available to use. 

    As for the Bionic – the pricing for it was set before the release date. The 699.99 list price is what a retailer actually pays for the phone. The compensation for an upgrade or a new line is why they can make the price so low. I’ll do a BOGO on a Bionic if that means I’ll get 2 new phones out the door. 

    I always tell my customers that it’s not about what the phone does, but about how it feels in your hands how it looks to you – which is why advertisement for the DROIDS are unnecessary. You can throw a bunch of BS specs at somebody in a 30 second commercial and you’ll be no where near as close to getting them in the store as you were before. And even if they do come in, they’re confused by what they may or may not have seen and frustrated to begin with. “I saw on the television that this here phone downloads at 4 G’s…is that like the gig-o-bytes? Because they said that the phone has 16 gig-o-bytes…can you only use 4 at a time?”…

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