Lack of Plain Language, Clarity, Delivering

For weeks, we have been receiving mailings at our home several times each week from Verizon, announcing “FiOS.” We believe that FiOS is fiber optic cable service but Verizon has never explained what the four-letter acronym means, relinquishing “FiOS” as just another meanless and made-up word, like “Verizon.”

I find Verizon’s marketing approach for a new, high tech offering to be so … old-fashioned — a direct mail campaign in the era of email and the Internet. For example, Verizon sent out one flyer in the mail to announce a “countdown” Web site to tell us when FiOS service would be available in our neighborhood, but nothing on the site fulfilled that claim … it was merely to try to capture our mailing address. Haven’t they heard of email?

Another Verizon flyer breathlessly announced FiOS and showed a couple looking at a computer. Actually, the photo showed an iMac G5, just like mine. Problem was that the photo was printed in reverse, and there was no power cord plugged into the back of the computer. My iMac needs power to work.

Each Verizon flyer promotes a completely different package price for FiOS services – one promises free Internet for a year, another obscurely talks about three services for the price of two … you get the picture. Nothing they claim is consistent so how can it be believable?

What I find most distracting about Verizon’s flyers regarding the unexplained “FiOS” are the company’s boastful, obscure and jargon-filled marketing claims:

“Game-changing technology of FiOS …”
“Jaw-dropping TV picture and sound …”
“Crazy-fast Internet …”
“Amazing … stunning … glorious … spectacular … breathtaking” … blah, blah, blah

Verizon has touted so much crap for so long about the company’s fiber optic service … without ever making it available in my area … that I no longer believe them. Verizon has done nearly everything to hype FiOS but have a brightly painted bus, “The B-S Express,” driving around the neighborhood. The message Verizon has inadvertently sent is that they do not deliver on their claims.

Verizon has violated today’s basic pillars of effective communications: plain language, clarity and delivering on your promises.

I am left with the distinct belief that Verizon is still an old-fashioned company struggling to gain footing in the digital revolution, and everything the company has done confirms that.

Category: Reputation management, Strategic Communications