T-Mobile’s ballsy ad aims to roll over Verizon’s network superiority claims

by on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn2OXVz_jyU

In response to a Verizon ad which uses colorful balls to spell out the superiority of its network, T-Mobile is showing some balls of its own with an ad that aims to roll over its competitor’s claims.

The Verizon commercial has been everywhere lately — we saw it quite a bit when we were still watching the NFL playoffs. There are a lot of red balls on a track, representing Verizon, which says that it won big (according to an independent study by Bellevue-based Root Metrics) in a test of wireless performance across the country.

Verizon also says it is tops in the U.S. in data, calls, speed and reliability.

On Thursday, T-Mobile countered with its ad, which uses pop-ups over the top of Verizon’s ad to call out what it says are “missing details and facts.” It also calls out “fine print” claiming the Verizon test is up to 12 months old and, according to a T-Mobile news release, “completely ignores that T-Mobile’s LTE network has literally more than doubled in the last year.”

John Legere.
John Legere.

“Verizon is known for their network coverage…. so when they suddenly start spending tens of millions in ads to try and convince people their network’s better, it says a lot! Look, we more than doubled our LTE coverage in the last year, and we now have more LTE towers than Verizon! It’s a real horse race,” said John Legere, president and CEO of the Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile in a news release. “Verizon’s so nervous they’re willing to use old, incomplete data about our network on TV!  But they’ve got good reason to panic, more than 5 million Verizon customers switched to T-Mobile in the last two years, and now, we’re going to show everyone else how the two networks really stack up.”

T-Mobile is taking things beyond just responding with its own ad, and instituted the #BallBusterChallenge to invite Verizon customers to test their network head on against T-Mobile.

The company says it will travel across the U.S. testing data speeds, texting and calls. If Verizon’s network wins over T-Mobile two out of three times, their customer walks away with a $100 Visa Prepaid Card courtesy of T-Mobile. And if they lose, they’ll pose for a photo with a sign of their choice, with options like “T-Mobile’s network just schooled Verizon #BallBusterChallenge” and more.

Legere wasn’t wasting any time promoting the challenge on Twitter on Thursday. The CEO was fresh off playing a drinking game during Verizon’s earning’s report on Wednesday.

Legere was also celebrating the fact that he now has 2 million Twitter followers.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.