Verizon Wireless Marketing - Case Study Example

Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., Verizon Wireless has the largest number of retail customers in the industry and is the most profitable wireless company in the U.S. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). (Verizon Wireless, 2008) Since wireless is the way of the future, the wireless divisions of these companies are the most hotly contested, and the focus of this "Battle of the Brands." It is important to note that despite Verizon Wireless bearing solely Verizon's name, it is not owned by just them, it is a 55%-45% joint venture between Verizon and Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD).

It is also important to note that AT&T Mobility is the service formerly known as Cingular, which was acquired by AT&T in 2006 when it bought BellSouth for $86B. Verizon Wireless lives up to its tagline as "America's Most Reliable Wireless Network". By doing so, it is the only major wireless company that offers a test-drive pledge that pays calls if a customer isn't satisfied and switches to another carrier. This marketing strategy is believed to have been backed upon by broad marketing research.

Verizon Wireless has focused on strengthening its customer loyalty, making it their edge from its competitors. It is believed to have the highest customer loyalty in the industry based on the lowest-in-industry churn. Compared to AT&T which is their serious challenger in the wireless networks, Verizon Wireless' products are almost the same as its competitor. Thus, the need to identify an area where they can perform better. Based on marketing research conducted, in order to increase customers of an industry, you need to increase a customer's trust in your products.

Launching the Verizon Wireless Test Driver's Manual is a very strategic tactic that has been very effective for the company. It definitely achieved its objective to increase its trial rate. When a product if of high-quality performance, a very vital percent, if not 100%, will lead to purchase rate and will then lead to the re-purchase rate of customers until customer loyalty is established. By reading the mind of their consumers, Verizon Wireless knew exactly that their products are of high-quality standards, leaving a little, if not zero, room for shifting to the competition.

None of this will be achieved if no marketing research has been intricately done to its market.Competitive intelligence plays a vital role in analyzing the competition between AT&T and Verizon Wireless. To analyze each of the company's strengths and weaknesses are important in order to come up with strategies to counter each other's marketing points. In detail, the present market of AT&T is composed of 71 million users against 65 million users of Verizon Wireless. Looking first at Verizon Wireless, its strategy is simple.

It focuses on the strength of its network as its main selling point. From the company's "Can you hear me now" ads to the current "It's the network" ads, the point the company conveys is that if you have Verizon, you are covered by the biggest and most reliable network. AT&T's most memorable recent ads maybe Martin Scorsese "We won't interrupt your phone calls, please don't interrupt our movies" ads that play at the cinema, but the company also runs television ads that focus on on "more bar.