Verizon spoofed in SNL LTE skit, Twitterverse reacts

If you were to compare the marketing campaigns of each carrier, you'd have T-Mobile stressing its cost-effective plans and affordable smartphones, you'd have Sprint boasting about its exclusive offering of unlimited data, and you'd have AT&T still peddling the iPhone and other cool, innovative handsets. But what about Verizon? Can't think of anything specific off the top of your head? Apparently neither could the writers over at Saturday Night Live, so they decided to do a sketch about it.

The late-night sketch showed an exaggerated version of Verizon's "kitech sink" approach, which is to throw a whole lot of jargon about 4G and LTE, while inundating viewers with a wide selection of phones without trying to focus on a single one. Back when Verizon's marketing campaign was essentially all about the Droid, it managed to make that device the most popular Android phone in the market. Today, though, what is the equivalent of the ubiquitous Droid?

There isn't one, as the skit shows. Twitter lit up with comments from tech heads who appreciated the clip. "Verizon SNL skit is so true. They need some serious brand work. Their equity is too fragmented across phone manufacturers," wrote on euser. "No lie, Verizon IS an old person's nightmare," wrote another. The sketch depicts an aged man trying to understand what the overly energetic Verizon salesperson is trying to peddle, but ultimately it ends up with the customer asking what happens if he drops is phone or tablet in the toilet. "It breaks instantly," the salesman says. Verizon did not comment on the skit.

[via Wall Street Journal]