Verizon’s Ad Campaign Against AT&T

There’s been a lot of talk recently about Verizon’s newly launched ad campaign against AT&T Wireless that targets the iPhone.  Verizon’s marketing team has a smart stategy here – they know that the iPhone is great, so they attack its one and only major weak point, the network.  AT&T’s 3G network, plainly put, is atrocious.  They’ve been making some substantial improvements, and I commend them for that, but their efforts have simply not been enough.  Most of the clamour over the ads come from pundits from both sides claiming they’re misleading, not true, put AT&T in a bad light, etc.  The ads have garnished so much attention, in fact, that AT&T, to no benefit of itself, has decided to sue Verizon over the ads.

The lawsuit is incredibly frivolous.  AT&T tries to claim that the ads are misleading because on Verizon’s map, the white space represents no service, but on AT&T’s map, the white space, in many cases, represents EDGE coverage.  They’re claiming that consumers won’t know the difference and assume that the white space on AT&T’s map is indeed indicative of a no-service area.  Here’s an image of the ad:

"There's a map for that." Image courtesy Engadget.

At the bottom of the ad though, it clearly states “5x More 3G Coverage.”  The emphasis is mine.  Although many consumers may not know what that means, technically, Verizon is being truthful.  Verizon’s entire network is based on a network technology called EVDO.  EVDO, is by nature, entirely 3G.  This means that essentially, Verizon’s entire network is 3G, so therefore, they can use their entire coverage map.  AT&T’s network, however, is not entirely 3G.  Most of its network is in fact EDGE, which is a 2.5G technology.  The map shown to the right does properly indicate AT&T’s 3G coverage zones.  Sad, isn’t it?  The loophole for Verizon of course is that even though EVDO’s speeds in many places equal that, or are even slower than that of EDGE, because the network technology is classified as 3G, they can use the map without repercussion.  For now, anyway.  Hopefully the judge will agree, because in all honesty, I think this ad campaign is fantastic.

AT&T published a posting on their website saying that:

As the U.S. market leader in wireless data service, we typically don’t respond to competitors’ advertising. However, some recent ads from Verizon are so blatantly false and misleading, that we want to set the record straight about AT&T’s wireless data coverage.

They continue to give statistics that reenforce how misleading the map is, and then link to a coverage map of their own, showing their “data” coverage.  Notice the phrasing there – data coverage.  Click on these shots for an explanation (or hover over them if you’re reading from the feed):

So, to conclude, Verizon technically isn’t lying – they’re being clever.  Their network is far superior to that of any other carrier in the US.  Verizon’s response to AT&T’s lawsuit started with:

AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s “There’s A Map For That” advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.

Harsh?  Yes.  True?  Absolutely.  Maybe AT&T should be spending a little more of its time working on its network, rather than filing ridiculous lawsuits.

UPDATE 11/18/09

This isn’t looking good for AT&T.  An article on AppleInsider says:

The judge ruled Wednesday that while the ads may be “sneaky,” they are not misleading, and do not justify any action to take them off the air. The judge did state however, that most TV watchers are “semi-catatonic” and therefore can easily misinterpret information presented.

A follow-up hearing date was set for Dec. 16, giving lawyers a second chance to present their case for an injunction. Verizon has claimed that AT&T’s suit is without merit

Looks like AT&T is continuing to fight back, though.  They just aired this new ad.  The arguments, similar to their lawsuit, is weak.  Very, very, weak.