Humorous Verizon DSL Ads Get Unenthusiastic Reception
In its latest effort to break the remaining dialup internet market, Verizon has released a series of humorous new ads for its DSL high-speed internet service.
One ad features a diva singing on a computer screen before her performance is scrambled and interrupted by the slow dial-up connection. She then storms off the stage, saying “you can’t handle me with your slow bandwidth.” Another features an animated cat singing sweetly, before his image fades away. The viewer then hears his voice lecturing them about bandwidth.
“We created the ads specifically to address the large majority of marketplace laggards out there hesitating about making the leap,” says Verizon’s director of consumer strategy Patricia Foster. “We wanted to highlight the benefit of moving to a broadband connection and we wanted to do it in a humorous, product-demonstration way.”
So far, however, the ads are failing to meet this goal, with a recent survey suggesting lack of impact among viewers.
According to Ad Track, USA Today’s weekly consumer poll, only 9% of respondents say that they like the new Verizon DSL ads “a lot.” The only demographic that even comes close to Ad Track’s average of 21% is 30 to 39 year olds, among whom 20% say they like the ads a lot.
That’s not to say that the ads are particularly bad, with only 11% of respondents actually disliking them. The problem is that they are simply failing to make a big impact with the majority of customers.
This doesn’t come as a big surprise to Jon Gibs, who is the senior director of media at Nielsen/Net Ratings. He claims that broadband is reaching the point of saturation, and the remaining dial-up market might just hold steady for the time being.
“Broadband is not going to be 100%, at least in the foreseeable future,” Gibs commented. “There’s a certain portion of the population that just checks their e-mail, and broadband doesn’t have a huge hold on them.”
All in all, the broadband industry is beginning to reach a plateau, with the runaway growth of recent years starting to slow down. In a market like this, where most people who don’t already have the service are convinced they don’t
Continued
One ad features a diva singing on a computer screen before her performance is scrambled and interrupted by the slow dial-up connection. She then storms off the stage, saying “you can’t handle me with your slow bandwidth.” Another features an animated cat singing sweetly, before his image fades away. The viewer then hears his voice lecturing them about bandwidth.
“We created the ads specifically to address the large majority of marketplace laggards out there hesitating about making the leap,” says Verizon’s director of consumer strategy Patricia Foster. “We wanted to highlight the benefit of moving to a broadband connection and we wanted to do it in a humorous, product-demonstration way.”
So far, however, the ads are failing to meet this goal, with a recent survey suggesting lack of impact among viewers.
According to Ad Track, USA Today’s weekly consumer poll, only 9% of respondents say that they like the new Verizon DSL ads “a lot.” The only demographic that even comes close to Ad Track’s average of 21% is 30 to 39 year olds, among whom 20% say they like the ads a lot.
That’s not to say that the ads are particularly bad, with only 11% of respondents actually disliking them. The problem is that they are simply failing to make a big impact with the majority of customers.
This doesn’t come as a big surprise to Jon Gibs, who is the senior director of media at Nielsen/Net Ratings. He claims that broadband is reaching the point of saturation, and the remaining dial-up market might just hold steady for the time being.
“Broadband is not going to be 100%, at least in the foreseeable future,” Gibs commented. “There’s a certain portion of the population that just checks their e-mail, and broadband doesn’t have a huge hold on them.”
All in all, the broadband industry is beginning to reach a plateau, with the runaway growth of recent years starting to slow down. In a market like this, where most people who don’t already have the service are convinced they don’t
Continued
posted by AM at
8:56 PM
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