Verizon Launches 'Progress' Advertising Campaign

NEW YORK - What's progress? To some, it may be coming up with that one big idea or completing all the daily tasks on their "to do" lists. To others, it may be spending quality time with family and friends.

For Verizon, making progress means helping its customers and communities move forward every day.

Making progress every day is the theme of a new corporate brand advertising campaign that reinforces Verizon's commitment to its customers, shareowners and the communities it serves. The message of progress debuted last night in television advertising in nine major markets across the country.

"The idea of 'everyday progress' represents unique positioning for Verizon, and it is also the next and natural progression of the Verizon brand," said Jody Bilney, Verizon senior vice president for Brand Management and Marketing Communications.

"The bottom line in communications is helping people move forward - whether it's holding a conference call on a project, finding a shop that carries the gift you want to buy, or doing online research. And when our customers accomplish any of these simple, everyday feats, it represents a small step of progress. We like to think that Verizon helps its customers accomplish that progress every day," Bilney said.

The advertising and corporate brand positioning will use the tagline: "Make progress every day." Advertising, marketing and sales materials also will use a "progress arrow" as a graphic treatment to remind customers of the continuous movement in a positive direction.

Lowe New York, a division of The Interpublic Group of Companies, produced the corporate brand campaign. La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados, Los Angeles, Ad Asia Communications, New York, and Burrell Communications Group, Chicago, created advertising for Verizon's Hispanic, Asian-American and African-American audiences, respectively.

"Life is a continuous journey," Bilney said, "that is not always about dramatic change, but more about the small steps we take forward every day. Through the thousands of daily contacts we have with customers, our employees demonstrate a relentless desire to help them move forward in a positive direction. By our actions and steady performance, we want people to recognize that Verizon stands for progress."

The television campaign will include a 60-second television commercial that will serve as an umbrella spot and set the stage for two additional 30-second commercials. The three spots will be rotated over the course of the next several weeks. A second phase of the branding campaign will focus on how the company's products and services help customers "make progress every day."

Running parallel with the corporate brand campaign will be direct-response campaigns that focus on selling the company's consumer products, DSL service and business services. These campaigns also will use the "Make progress every day" tagline and will promote the company's local packages of products and services, long-distance service, the company's ability to provide one bill for all services.

"This is part of the one-two punch we're making in the market," said Bilney. "We'll lead with our progress positioning, and then immediately follow with product proofs. Our focus with these more product-oriented commercials is to show customers how our products, communications solutions and our employees can provide a benefit to customers every day."

The direct-response product campaigns were developed by Draft Worldwide, also part of The Interpublic Group of Companies.

Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 132.1 million access line equivalents and 29.4 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with more than $67 billion in annual revenues and approximately 247,000 employees, Verizon's global presence extends to more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.