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Sep. 17th, 2008
T-Mobile Snark
Sep. 17th, 2008 01:14 pmI'm reading a business book in which the authors claim that one reason people do business with a company is that they "feel good about themselves" or affirm some aspect of their identity by doing so. There's a whole range of reasons for this, from "being bargain conscious", to not following the crowd, to "being upscale."
I don't watch much tv, but I am aware of cell phone company commercials. Verizon's are best, in my opinion. Geeky Network Guy (GNG) has dropped the annoying "Can you hear me now?" and has become the superhero of cellular, always there -- with his army of network maintenance folks. Even when he's not the star -- as in my all-time favorite Vicious Pony holiday commercial -- he's present as part of the Verizon package.
According to the company's ads, if you're a Verizon customer, you're someone with an army of techies at your back who will make sure your calls go through. You're smart for choosing their supposedly unsurpassed network and reliable service.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, portrays their customers as being obnoxious, shallow, and idiotic. They use their MyFaves to alert their friends that they're going to go streaking at a football game, to get lame pick-up advice that gets drinks thrown in their face, and to hit on their best buddy's girlfriend -- and they use text messages to start shopping cart races in grocery stores. Toward the bottom of the barrel is their "hot friends" ad, justly parodied in a recent Saturday Night Live sketch.
The first segment of the video reproduces the original ad, in which a girl seeking support from her parents against her brother's "you have hot friends" comment is not helped by her father saying "Maybe you shouldn't have such hot friends." The rest of the sketch covers what you know actually happens after Dad's lame remark.
The thing is: T-Mobile has been winning JD Power awards for service for the past several years, and their network is every bit as reliable as Verizon's -- but they don't focus on that in their ads. Instead of showing how their products help people "stick together" they show how using T-Mobile means that you're part of the idiot crew.
I don't watch much tv, but I am aware of cell phone company commercials. Verizon's are best, in my opinion. Geeky Network Guy (GNG) has dropped the annoying "Can you hear me now?" and has become the superhero of cellular, always there -- with his army of network maintenance folks. Even when he's not the star -- as in my all-time favorite Vicious Pony holiday commercial -- he's present as part of the Verizon package.
According to the company's ads, if you're a Verizon customer, you're someone with an army of techies at your back who will make sure your calls go through. You're smart for choosing their supposedly unsurpassed network and reliable service.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, portrays their customers as being obnoxious, shallow, and idiotic. They use their MyFaves to alert their friends that they're going to go streaking at a football game, to get lame pick-up advice that gets drinks thrown in their face, and to hit on their best buddy's girlfriend -- and they use text messages to start shopping cart races in grocery stores. Toward the bottom of the barrel is their "hot friends" ad, justly parodied in a recent Saturday Night Live sketch.
The first segment of the video reproduces the original ad, in which a girl seeking support from her parents against her brother's "you have hot friends" comment is not helped by her father saying "Maybe you shouldn't have such hot friends." The rest of the sketch covers what you know actually happens after Dad's lame remark.
The thing is: T-Mobile has been winning JD Power awards for service for the past several years, and their network is every bit as reliable as Verizon's -- but they don't focus on that in their ads. Instead of showing how their products help people "stick together" they show how using T-Mobile means that you're part of the idiot crew.
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