The Dogs of War

The network wars have begun. I’ve been keeping aloof from the whole thing because I’m a bit biased on the topic. I will say this, when Verizon Wireless first aired the “There’s a map for that” campaign, I hated it. I thought it was derivative (which it is), unimaginative, and capital L lame. Then AT&T went and threw a tantrum. Then I started liking “There’s a map for that” a lot more.



I’ve been following the legal dispute with interest. You can boil AT&T’s complaint down to a childish “But it’s not fair.” Verizon’s response has been pitch-perfect. They haven’t backed down and have kept pushing their campaign. Yes, I’ll admit the campaign makes sense to me now, and yes it’s decent.

AT&T has become its own worst enemy in all this. AT&T is a common trending topic on Twitter, usually not for good reasons. I think people see the law suite as a lame attempt to silence a competitor that is pointing out flaws. Today, a judge dismissed AT&T’s request to put a stop to Verizon’s current campaign. In response AT&T released its own commercial targeted directly at Verizon Wireless.



The AT&T commercial isn’t very compelling at all. A magnetic board with some softball “facts” about the AT&T network—oh and Luke Wilson. The new tagline for AT&T: “A better 3G experience.” Better than say, being able to connect to actual 3G in over 264 major cities nationwide? Verizon Wireless has been able to make that claim for the better part of a year now. If this is AT&T’s response to Verizon’s campaign, I foresee a difficult holiday season ahead for the home of the iPhone.

Advertising aside, I think AT&T can find itself in a world of hurt here. The iPhone won’t be exclusive much longer. AT&T needs to make some serious upgrades to their network. Verizon is a recognized leader when it comes to 3G networks, and they are already moving headlong into deploying a 4G network. What makes the Verizon campaign work is that it’s true. The Verizon network delivers on its promises. And people know it. AT&T needs to do some major revamping of their network first, then focus on ads. As things stand right now, AT&T looks like a poor-sport that doesn’t know how to admit defeat.