As part of its introductory unlimited data plan offering, Verizon will air a new spot on Monday night to show competitors that it's back in the game and dropping the mic, literally.
The spot, created by McCann New York, stars actor Thomas Middleditch, known for his role on HBO's "Silicon Valley," and will air on all major networks at 8 p.m. EST, such as CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC. In the commercial, Mr. Middleditch unveils a large "Unlimited" statue from underneath a red sheet while talking about the merits of Verizon's plan, and each time he appears as if he's finished speaking, he drops his mic and then pulls out another to add something else. After three times, he says, "And that is all the microphones that I have," which is followed by a narrator that states: "Not just unlimited, Verizon unlimited."
Verizon teased the new plan on Sunday night during the Grammy's with a video on Twitter that said, "Starting tomorrow, unlimited gets the network it deserves." The teaser also appeared on Sunday night during "The Walking Dead" mid-season premiere, after show and encore, and in Spanish-language programming on the likes of Univision and estrallaTV. This is the first work to come out of Verizon since the company parted ways with Wieden & Kennedy and consolidated all creative under McCann earlier this year.
Bloomberg previously reported that the new plan "marks an about-face for Verizon, which has steadfastly refused to offer unlimited data plans for fear of obliterating the bottom line, choosing instead to focus on network quality for the highest-paying customers."
Verizon is a bit late to the game as competitors AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint have already been offering some form of unlimited data plans. About seven years ago, Verizon offered an unlimited data plan before putting an end to it.
Earlier this month, Sprint took a direct shot at Verizon in its 30-second Super Bowl spot that humorously highlighted just how far customers will go to get out of their Verizon contracts.
In 2015, Verizon spent a little over $1 billion on measured media in the U.S., according to the Ad Age Datacenter.
