Ad watchdog group recommends Verizon Wireless pull PTT marketing campaign
VZW ads claim rivals’ ‘old service is useless now’
November 5 2008 - 2:15 pm ET | Allie Winter | RCR Wireless News
Verizon Wireless ads showcase the carrier's recently updated push-to-talk service.
Verizon Wireless’ claims of its rivals’ “useless” push-to-talk service ticked off PTT veteran Sprint Nextel Corp. — and the carrier appears to be rightfully angry. The Council of Better Business Bureaus reviewed Verizon Wireless’ PTT advertising, and recommended the carrier discontinue its current campaign.
Verizon Wireless’ ad campaign coincides with the launch of its newly redesigned PTT service.
Sprint Nextel challenged some of Verizon Wireless’ PTT advertising before NAD (The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus), saying that certain claims in the ads were attacking Sprint Nextel with false implications. The claims under examination were from a television and a radio commercial and included the phrases:
“We all upgraded to Verizon Wireless. Got push to talk and the reliability of the network. That old service is useless now.”
“Don’t be the last one standing with another push to talk. Switch to the only one that comes with the network.”
“Hello? Anyone there? Why am I always getting disconnected? I’ve got to get something better.”
“Are you suffering with a push-to-talk phone that drops the ball on regular calls? Don’t push your luck with your push to talk. Make the switch to Verizon Wireless and the reliability of the network.”
Sprint Nextel believed the statements could misinform viewers that its PTT service is useless, is currently inoperable, that the number of Sprint Nextel’s PTT subscribers is declining so quickly that those who want to use it will have no one to connect to, that the network repeatedly disconnects calls, or that the PTT network will soon be discontinued.
NAD ultimately agreed with Sprint Nextel, and found that the Verizon Wireless ads did imply Sprint Nextel’s service is useless now and that its service was being decommissioned or was soon to be discontinued. While NAD did not make a ruling forcing Verizon Wireless to pull the ads, they recommend that the carrier discontinue the claims.
Verizon Wireless stood by its advertisements, saying that it relied on NAD decisions when creating the commercials, but noted that the ads at issue have been pulled as part of the carrier’s normal course of business.
Interestingly, Sprint Nextel recently decided to continue its commitment to its iDEN-based network with a new deal with equipment supplier Motorola Inc.
NAD has been busy in the wireless space. Verizon Wireless had frustrations of its own recently with AT&T Mobility ads that claimed it had a superior network. NAD agreed with Verizon Wireless’ claims and recommended that AT&T Mobility modify the message. AT&T Mobility chose to ignore the advice.
November 6, 2008 04:05 pm
Wow as someone in the industry, I think you folks have way to much time on your hands. Both are good although i tend to side with the nextel side of things. Bottom line is this is not about network more so than its about advertising. An underlying rule in advertising is you dont directly attack your competitor. And the question is did verizon do that?
November 6, 2008 06:00 am
You want a clue with Sprint? Go to their website. I was looking for specific contact info recently and went to their website. After a very frustrating 15 minutes of dealing with broken links, 404's and such, I gave up. It tells me when a company cares so little about their website that they can't even keep it up, then what does that say about their service?
November 6, 2008 05:59 am
Common Sense ... Their coverage is "Very similar"? I would politely suggest that you review a coverage map. They are not even close. Millions of people have come to that conclusion this year alone which why they have had such mass defections. (Of course their terrible customer service does not help matters any!) The technology is very antiquated, particulary with their 1990's data speeds on the IDEN network. Even Sprint recognizes this and has launched QChat in an attemot to get customers to move to CDMA. They are so done, stick a fork in em, give them a good funeral and lets move on to real mobile technology. If you are truly going to use common sense as your name implies, then I ask you why else Sprint was looking so hard to find a buyer for them (unsuccessfully I might add) why did they write off over 30 billion dollars worth of not so good will early in 08 from the merger? Why are so many people leaving the IDEN product behind (litteraly millions according to their financial reports). Common sense dictates that the millions are not all wrong in their decision.
November 6, 2008 06:00 am
Don't listen to any of the hype. Look at any of the metrics that are used to indicate the health of a wireless company: Churn, ARPU, Dropped Calls, Subscriber Growth, etc. Put the Nextel specs on a timeline that shows 1 year before the Sprint takeover and one year after. Then decide for yourself where the problem is. It's NOT the fault of the iDEN technology. Senior management in both companies are clearly to blame for taking their eyes off of the only true health indicators in the business.
November 6, 2008 06:00 am
ExNexT, you need to get over your bitterness and move on to something more productive.The coverage numbers for iDEN and Verizon RevA are....wait...are you ready for it....Very similiar...So, there is no enhanced coverage VZ offers for their PTT service.Bottom line...iDEN was built for PTT and voice calling. Verizon CDMA was never built for PTT; it was built for voice calling and data. They will always be at a disadvantage.
November 6, 2008 05:59 am
First off, Sprint Nextel has been loosing customers in 2008 at a rate of 1 million plus per quarter. According to Sprint's published reports, the vast majority of these are Nextel IDEN customers.Second, Sprint has published that their own internal strategy is to move IDEN customers to the Sprint CDMA side of the house as rapidly as possible.Does any of this sound like the obsolete IDEN network is going to go away. It sure does to me!!In regard to VZW PTT speed, their rev A EVDO PTT is just as fast as IDEN form a user experience but with a MUCH MUCH larger network. Now the statistics may show IDEN to be so many milliseconds faster, but users do not care about miliseconds for PTT. As long as it is sub second connectivity the users are satisfied. VZW IS subsecond connectivity. Lstly, the ads are right on the money from my perspective. IDEN customers are leaving in droves, and their number one choice when they leave is VZW. Port out ratios (and who customers are porting to) are common knowledge in the industry and these figures don't lie. With millions leaving IDEN for VZW one has to wonder why. The answers are simple.Sprint has the highest churn in the industry.Sprint has the worst customer service in the industry.IDEN technology has (BY FAR) the slowest data speeds in the industry.VZW has the lowest churn in the industry.VZW has the best customer service in the industry. (As published by many different independant agencies.)VZW data speeds are far far superior to Sprint IDEN speeds.All of these statements are published factual statements.Customers are not stupid. They know these facts. And their decisions are obvious by the reported churn and port out reports. I support the ads and hope that they continue.
November 6, 2008 06:00 am
Bob C and Mark Miller said it best in their comments. I am a former Nextel employee and I feel that Sprint did a HUGE dis-service to the company. Now, they must deal with the fallout. Shame to Nextel execs for selling out a system that they didn't want to put millions of dollars into only to sell it to Sprint who was stupid enough to buy it and run it into the ground. WAY TO GO SPRINT!!!
November 6, 2008 06:00 am
I live in a major metro area, and I hear some stories of Nextel getting reception in hard to reach buildings. Then, I hear stories about users getting unable to reach subscriber messages. I'm sorry, but if I can't be reached, please send my calls to voicemail.
November 6, 2008 12:25 am
Nah, you're wrong and/or uninformed.
November 5, 2008 02:22 pm
Hey Techguy,Uh, no Police Officer or anyone else that requires public saftey grade communications, would consider using that crappy Nextel OR ANY OTHER PUBLIC NETWORK as a substitute for public safety grade communications. Who are you trying to kid??