When did Verizon turn into General Electric? That's what you'll be asking after you watch this new ad campaign from the phone company, which, incidentially seems to be the very characterization it's trying to shake off. Developed by McGarryBowen and directed by Park Pictures' Lance Acord, the new campaign focuses on the amazing work that people at Verizon's labs are doing that goes beyond fixing dropped calls and offering better text messaging packages.

No, what Verizon is doing is creating meaningful solutions that are going to change the world we live in. There's a VGo robot ("Attendance") powered by Verizon's network, that a housebound kid can use to attend school and interact with his teacher, and the Motion Technology partnership ("Black Diamond") that enables emergency personnel to dispatch help and respond to emergencies in record time. "The Brave," meanwhile features a projective display by Verizon that lets firefighters see through anything -- even flame.

Each spot combines shots of the technology in real-life situations with a "behind-the-scenes" type look at the engineers and innovators creating and testing the products in labs. There's plenty of beautiful stirring music by Phillip Glass and lots of the requisite equation-writing on glass walls.

The campaign debuted alongside Verizon's CES presence this year, which, as GigaOM reports, is very different from last year, intended to halo out the company's creativity and technical expertise beyond just phones.