Former Verizon Wireless pitchman Paul Marcarelli joins Sprint
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, in a series of tweets Sunday night, announced a major marketing coup – the fourth-place U.S. wireless carrier hired a longtime Verizon Wireless spokesman to help win customer mindshare.
Paul Marcarelli, known as the “test guy” from Verizon Wireless’ long-running “can you hear me now?” ad campaign helped Verizon Wireless educate consumers on the quality and reach, as well as improvements, to the nationwide network. Claure told his more than 120,000 Twitter followers that Marcarelli “agrees that paying twice the price for less than 1% difference in network reliability makes little sense … Welcome to #TeamSprint … Now do us a favor and talk some sense into @RickyGervais,” the face of current Verizon Wireless ads targeting Sprint’s network quality.
In marketing materials, Marcarelli, billed as a “former Verizon customer,” says: “What I’ve found is … the better that some other national carriers claim about reliability is really less than a 1% difference. Does anyone even really notice a difference of less than 1%? But when it comes to saving money … Sprint is by far the best choice for consumers. You get a highly reliable network and save 50% off most of the rates other national wireless carriers charge. Now that is noticeable.”
“We’ve made tremendous advancements in our network during the past year, and Sprint’s network reliability is now within 1% difference of Verizon,” Claure said. “Within 1%. We don’t expect our customers would even notice such an insignificant difference. And Sprint will save customers who switch 50% on most national carrier rate plans. So Verizon customers can switch to Sprint, experience network reliability on par with Verizon and save money on their wireless service each month. Using Paul in our advertising demonstrates loud and clear that it’s a new day in wireless.”
