Verizon shoots first in ‘5G ad war’ against rival T-Mobile

Andrew McKechnie, chief creative officer at Verizon, says the company didn’t hold the video until Saturday in anticipation of T-Mobile releasing its Super Bowl spot early. Instead, he said Verizon is “educating” the public about what 5G can achieve, a message it intends to share in its Super Bowl ad on Sunday. 

“There is a lot of confusion in the marketplace,” says McKechnie. “We’re constantly educating consumers on not only what 5G will do, but that not everything being called 5G has actual 5G performance.”

T-Mobile’s Big Game commercial has comedian Anthony Anderson switch his mother’s cell phone plan from Verizon to T-Mobile because “it’s the only one to offer nationwide 5G.” 

Verizon has yet to roll out its nationwide 5G network. The company is testing its capabilities across more than a dozen cities, but it doesn’t have a “nationwide 5G network” just yet—a distinction T-Mobile is clearly taking advantage of ahead of the Big Game. 

One of the biggest 5G challenges facing both Verizon and AT&T is the type of frequencies they each have available to deploy coverage. Both can deliver ridiculous speeds, but their coverage is spotty. John Legere, T-Mobile CEO, yesterday put out a press release that included a link to a video showing how an umbrella could block out Verizon’s 5G signal.

Meanwhile, each company is running a single Super Bowl ad tomorrow; AT&T isn’t airing a commercial while Sprint is sitting out after making four consecutive appearances. Verizon distributed its video on Saturday across social media platforms.