Phone Companies: The Battle of the Bars

We see and hear advertisements and infomercials all the time, whether that be on the internet, on Facebook or Twitter, or even on the radio. These ads can manipulate the audience to buy into whatever they're selling, giving out, or even the service they're providing. Some ads buy into popular culture by using what's going on in the news and world in their ad. This makes a successful ad because it keeps up with what's "cool", current, and convincing. These days, it may be uncommon to find someone that doesn't own a cell phone, even maybe a smart phone. With today's culture, having this luxury isn't so out of the ordinary. So what does having a phone have to do with commercials? Well I know we see advertisements all the time about "CUT YOUR BILL IN HALF" or "WE'LL PAY OFF YOUR OLD PLAN" and lets be honest, who wouldn't want this? (Obviously some maybe hefty payments and restrictions apply) but seriously doesn't this sound enticing? But then again why would you switch your current plan to a plan that doesn't have the best phone service, LTE coverage, or even texting service? So that's why Verizon came out with an ad recently comparing itself to three of the most popular phone companies; Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. As you may have seen this ad before, Verizon had a sort of colorful ball racetrack. Each phone company had a different color, representing the number of votes they got nationwide when a study was conducted. This study tested wireless performance across the country; Verizon received 153 state wins, AT&T received 38 votes, Sprint got 2 votes, and lastly T-Mobile received 0. Also Verizon claims to have scored the highest in data, calls, speed, and reliability. So why does this matter? Well for the target audience, being both young, independent adults and older adults paying for this specific service, they would want the most bang for their buck. Why pay monthly for a service that doesn't fully satisfy your needs? The target audience watches these commercials to make decisions about what they're paying for and in return for what they're receiving. If these young and older adults are watching this Verizon ad, obviously this would spark a little interest in what Verizon offers. The highest votes in LTE coverage, calls, and speed? Why would you even look at the other companies? Well of course with any competition, the other side has to fight back. Sprint released an ad that had the same premise as the Verizon ad, mocking their "colorful ball" representation. They also explained that Verizon had stretched the truth and that Sprint has faster download speeds coverage than all three companies. Another phone company, and probably the most humorous, was T-Mobile's ad that came out on Super Bowl Sunday. Everyone remembers Steve Harvey's mistake this past year at the Miss Universe Pageant, and if you don't try to hold your laughs in. Steve Harvey was the host for the pageant, and at the final moment that everyone was waiting for he announced the wrong winner of the contest. After the runner-up took her victory lap around the stage, Mr. Harvey came back on stage, admitted he made a mistake, apologized about 10 times, and crowned the real winner. Watching this, I was completely shocked and couldn't help but feel bad and laugh at Mr. Harvey all at the same time. So here, T-Mobile took this mistake to their advantage. By using the same representation of the colorful balls, T-Mobile featured Steve Harvey in their ad and had him interrupt the commercial by saying he had to apologize again. He explains that Verizon had used last years numbers for their comparative study and that T-Mobile had doubled their LTE coverage and now has more LTE towers than Verizon. Steve then goes on to explain that it wasn't his fault that the information was wrong, it was Verizon's. He then says cheerfully that hes not taking responsibility for this and he didn't get it wrong this time. All of this is followed by a pink screen with the hashtag "#BALLOGIZE". What better way to get the audience involved then to start a trending topic on Twitter? T-Mobile targets their audience by using popular culture and what's going on in the news now, as I mentioned earlier. They do this by having Steve Harvey featured in their commercial because of how big he was talked about in the previous weeks. They tied in their topic by comparing him making a mistake at the pageant to Verizon making a mistake in numbers. Lastly, by using the hashtag, it allows people to interact with this topic and give their thoughts, comments, opinions about the commercial. This then spreads and spreads until everyone is aware of what's going on. Verizon and T-Mobile went head to head, both having the same target audience of young independent adults and also older adults such as parents. By using these commercials, they appeal to the public by offering the best service in the country. Verizon used facts, while T-Mobile used humor to counteract those facts. By using this back and forth we realize how influential and persuasive these commercials can really be.