AT&T's Verizon Lawsuit Gives 'Map for That' Ad New Life

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Marketing experts were quick to criticize AT&T for taking legal action against Verizon's "Map for That" ads. While AT&T wanted the ads pulled, what the lawsuit was more likely to do is bring attention to the ads, and AT&T's weakness: its iPhone-taxed 3G network.

A few weeks later and it looks like those experts were right. After having disappeared from the Viral Video Chart, Verizon's "Map for That" ad is back on it, in the No. 7 spot with almost 500,000 views, according to Visible Measures, which collects the data on weekly views. It also likely got a boost from the extra anti-iPhone/AT&T TV spots Verizon has been running, like the one in which it exiles Apple's phone to the Island of Misfit Toys. Incidentally, Visible Measures also recent noticed a change in Verizon's ad-dissemination strategy.

"The first ['Map for That'] creative launched exclusively on broadcast TV and was still able to find success with online audiences through community members uploading the commercial to the web," said noted Matt Cutler, VP-marketing and analytics. "Three new holiday-themed assets were released on TV and online on Verizon's corporate YouTube user channel. Perhaps their first appearance on the chart had some impact on their subsequent strategy?"

Meanwhile, there were no new entries on chart this week, although it's worth noting Volkswagen reclaimed the No. 1 spot and Evian marked its 20th consecutive appearance.

	Last Week	Brand	Campaign	Agency	Current Week Views*	% Change in Views**	Watch the Spot
1	2	Volkswagen	The Fun Theory	Tribal DDB	1,092,520	-29%
2	4	Evian	Live Young	BETC Euro RSCG	941,157	-2%
3	1	International Olympic Committee	Best of US Challenge	Cole & Weber United; Mekanism	698,712	-55%
4	5	DC Shoes	Ken Block's Gymkhana Two Project	Mad Media	562,238	-16%
5	Back on Chart	Microsoft Xbox	Project Natal	World Famous	487,128	Back on Chart
6	6	Verizon Wireless	Droid Does	McGarryBowen	457,983	-2%
7	Back on Chart	Verizon Wireless	There's A Map For That	McCann Erickson	449,275	Back on Chart
8	Back on Chart	Durex	Get It On	Fitzgerald+CO; SuperFad	295,977	Back on Chart
9	10	Inspired Bicycles	Danny MacAskill Trials	N/A	252,099	+11%
10	9	T-Mobile	T-Mobile Dance	Saatchi & Saatchi, MediaCom	251,084	+7%
Source: Visible Measures *The Visible Measures Top 10 Viral Video Ad Campaigns Chart focuses on brand-driven viral video ads that appear on online-video-sharing destinations. Each campaign is measured on a True Reach basis, which includes viewership of both brand-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. The data are compiled using the Visible Measures Viral Reach Database, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on more than 100 million internet videos across more than 150 video-sharing destinations. Note: This analysis does not include Visible Measures' paid-placement (i.e., overlays, pre-/mid-/post-roll) performance data or video views on private sites. This chart does not include movie trailers, video-game campaigns, TV show or media network promotions, or public service announcements. View-count results are incremental by week. **Indicates percent change in views compared with the same period the week before. To notify Visible Measures of an upcoming video ad campaign, or for an end-to-end assessment of your campaign's overall performance, please contact Visible Measures directly.