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Old 03-12-2002, 07:40 PM   #1
elSicomoro
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Advertising that is damned near subliminal

I was watching NBC, waiting for "Watching Ellie" to come on. And in-between shows, they do a little lead-in to the next show.

As the lead-in for "Watching Ellie" comes on, here comes the Verizon Wireless guy doing his latest schtick. "Can you hear me now? Good!" ON the actual lead-in! No real advertisement other than a) you see the Verizon Wireless patch on his jacket and b) his rise in popularity similar to Steven the Dell guy.

On one hand, I was like, "What the fuck?!" But I also thought it was really slick.
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Old 03-12-2002, 08:05 PM   #2
elSicomoro
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Update

They did it again between "Watching Ellie" and the 2nd episode of "Frasier." But, they showed the Verizon Wireless logo in the bottom corner of the screen...I might have missed that the first time.

Still, pretty slick. Verizon has the most wireless subscribers in the nation...do they really need more?
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Old 03-13-2002, 12:28 PM   #3
middlefunger
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Common tactics

Sycamore, this isn't actually that uncommon. It's known as branding. The ultimate goal of the commercial is not to sell wireless products. The ultimate goal is for you to fix Verizon in your mind as the only wireless services provider. Nike does the same thing in that commercial of shifting athletes. And you're right, it is a great commercial. For more in depth reading about the whole concept of branding, you might want to check out No Logos, by Naomi Klein.
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Old 03-13-2002, 12:32 PM   #4
russotto
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I find the "Can you hear me now" guy is so irritating he drives me to Sprint.
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Old 03-13-2002, 03:06 PM   #5
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Sprint? You mean that guy in the raincoat who investigates why people bring home Charo, or flour the kids?

The guy who claims that "all digital" is better when in fact it should be sold as "incompatible with analog systems"?
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Old 03-13-2002, 03:12 PM   #6
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Eh? My SprintPCS phone (Samsung N200) roams to analog quite nicely. Though I've only ever done it once, when I needed to make an important call and for some reason couldn't get signal in a spot where I normally am okay (gg, PCS).

As far as clarity - when I'm talking to people, they can't tell I'm on a cell phone. I say "well, we're at Taco Bell so I'mma let you go" and they say "wow, didn't know you were on your cell." It seriously is <b>very</b> clear.
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Old 03-13-2002, 03:30 PM   #7
Undertoad
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Oh, yes, you're right... but not roaming to an analog cell on the Sprint system since there are none... but there are fewer cells overall aren't there? I hear more complaints about Sprint and ATT, fewer about Verizon.

I'm on Verizon myself, and it's digital and entirely clear most of the time, unless you're way out in the sticks.
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Old 03-13-2002, 03:48 PM   #8
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I have no real complaints about Sprint. Like I said, that one time the service got fudged for about five minutes and I needed to make a phone call *now* so I just stuck the phone in analog mode and made the call.

The thing I don't like about Verizon is that their prices and calling plans fucking sucked when I was looking. Here's what I've got:

-3050 Night & Weekend Minutes/month
-450 Day Minutes/month
-Nationwide long distance
-Nationwide calling area (i.e., if I can get SprintPCS signal, I'm not roaming, even in Jackson, Mississippi)
-"Night" time starts at 8 PM
-$50/month

Now, all that stuff was important to me. I use it a lot (replaces the home phone), so I wanted the minutes. I call people all over the country, so I wanted the nationwide long distance. I was going to Jackson in a month and a half, so I wanted the nationwide calling area. And because of Quake and the fact that I play clan matches while on the phone, I wanted the night time to start at 8 PM. That extra hour is a very important one to me.

Verizon only had night starting at 9 PM. I talked to their reps, they could <b>not</b> give me an 8 PM night, even for a couple extra bucks a month. "I'm sorry, our computers are programmed so that we can't do that." I was like "Well, I'm sorry, but I can't buy your service then." Even overlooking that, trying to get nationwide long distance <b>or</b> a nationwide calling area at a decent price ($50 or less per month with the minutes I listed above) was impossible. Literally. And their minutes just didn't stack up. There just weren't enough for the price.

Jenni has Verizon, and I will say that its coverage overall is better. But everyone knows that. It operates at a lower megahertz and so it happens to get signal in spots like valleys and whatnot whereas SprintPCS will not hug the earth the way regular cellular does. That's a trade off I was willing to make simply because the coverage in my area (Fairfax) is excellent. I seriously do not have any problem in the house, at work, at the grocery store, etc.

I would have liked to have gotten Verizon with a StarTAC, but the cost was prohibitive. Turns out that I get great service with a better phone, so I'm happy.
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Old 03-13-2002, 09:17 PM   #9
elSicomoro
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Rho and I have Verizon. All in all, we're pretty happy with the service. I use the phone almost every day, and I'm rather satisfied with the rates, minutes, and reception.

The only thing is...we should have switched to the Northeast plan. When I was using the phone in Washington and Baltimore, I was getting my ass kicked by the roaming charges. My bad.
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