“At the same time, there is some respect for Verizon not getting in the way of the art and artist,” Quint said. “ So, depending on follow-ups of this ad or any other—or any sponsorship—they may have crafted with Beyonce, there is the potential for Verizon to get more out of this effort.”
While Segal noted that Beyoncé never touted Verizon’s network herself in their ad—which may not lead customers of other networks to switch—he sees it as a big step toward cementing Verizon’s place in culture. Verizon faced two Super Bowl ads from rival T-Mobile featuring at least nine different celebrities, with each company attempting to tout the strengths of its services and the benefits of joining their network.
But Verizon and Beyoncé’s brands have intertwined for decades. Verizon was presenting sponsor of her Ladies First Tour with Missy Elliot and Alicia Keys in 2004, first to offer downloads of I Am… Sasha Fierce in 2008 and handled the presale for Renaissance World Tour tickets to Verizon Up members last year. Verizon was able to steer fans and customers to Beyoncé’s album launch without the launch itself feeling like an ad. Segal noted that it was “a bit they were both in on” and it paid off.
“These things could go any number of ways, but given Beyonce’s impeccable taste (and I’m sure a good deal of creative control) there’s much less of a worry of it being a miss,” Segal said. “To leverage the Super Bowl like this and cheekily nod to breaking the internet and then continuing that very conversation on the internet moments later was a strong move.”
Source link
