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Matthew Miller & Joel Evans
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Verizon can't hear you--it's ruling the air now

By | June 28, 2010, 1:14pm PDT

Summary: Soon you will be able to say “Can you hear me now?” without thinking of Verizon

Thanks to Verizon, I always pause before I utter the phrase “can you hear me now?” when I’m having reception trouble with my mobile phone during a call. Apparently the company didn’t think that the slogan was effective enough, though, and is now rebranding with “Rule The Air”.

We first heard that the re-branding may be coming thanks to a rumor, and now based on the screenshot I just grabbed from the VerizonWireless.com site (see below), I’d say that the rumors were true.

“Can you hear me now?” is probably the best slogan I had ever heard. Not only did it annoy me, but it reminded me of the guy walking around everywhere and uttering the phrase. I also think of Verizon and how it has a great network covering the country. “Rule The Air” actually sounds a bit silly to me, especially since Verizon still has a landline business. What does Rule The Air really even mean?

Since I’m not a branding expert I won’t completely pass judgment. Instead, I’ll look forward to soon being able to utter “can you hear me now?” without cringing.

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Topics

Verizon Communications Inc., Branding, Marketing, Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.

Disclosure

Joel Evans

Joel is a serial entrepreneur with his most recent business, CronkSoftware (cronksoftware.com), focusing on consulting and building games and applications for mobile devices. Joel has consulted for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile division and advises other companies on how to incorporate mobile into their existing brands and products. Joel purchases many of his devices and others are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the supplier. If any devices are provided as “keeper” Joel will clearly disclose this in his reviews.

Biography

Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands, technologies and services into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently serving as the Managing Director of Cronk Software, Inc., a company he founded to offer full-service, end-to-end mobile strategy, design and development services.

Joel is the former founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, a website praised by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others as one of world's best sources of information for technology professionals and enthusiasts.

Joel also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. He brings decades of relationships with leading game publishers, online communities and publishers, along with both hardware and software product management and delivery expertise. Joel can be found online as "JoelGeek" and you can follow him on Twitter @JoelGeek.

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"Verizon can't hear you"
TheNebraskaGal 1st Jul 2010
THIS is about as close to the truth as it gets! With Verizon's recent take-over of Alltel in my region, they have brought with them poor customer service, limitations & higher fees on preciously-unlimited services, a 'deaf ear' to customer complaints & an arrogant attitude that finally got them FIRED as my carrier. I'd much rather deal with Sprint's smaller network for it's unlimited plans at nearly ONE-THIRD the cost of Verizon's comparable limited services than continue to dole out my hard-earmed dollars to this monstrosity gone mad. The moment they stopped treating me with respect as their customer, they spelled their own doom. Verizon rules NOTHING in my world now!
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RE: Verizon can't hear you--it's ruling the air now
gcomputeronet@... Updated - 28th Jun 2010
Reminds me of "Beef, it's what's for Dinner" and "The Other White Meat". Even if they change their slogan, it is rather embedded in memory as relating to Verizon; so it will reign on.
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What does Rule The Air really even mean?
Phostenix 28th Jun 2010
It means that Verizon is confident that America is now sufficiently Biblically illiterate as to not know that the "Prince of the power of the air" is Satan. Yep, they just branded themselves as Satan. Kinda makes AT&T look like the good guys all of a sudden....
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Oye? Queue the religious nutjobs now.
Ktroje 30th Jun 2010
@Phostenix Thank you, for that totally unrelated religious claim about a cellular phone company. Tech and religion do not mix happily, and it honestly makes me laugh at the sheer possibility one could tie Satan to Verizon. What in the world makes you think Verizon is now Satan because they cover so much of the US, the claim they "rule the air" in which case I believe them - they certainly cover a hell of a lot more than AT&T. Me and my iPhone know that all too well. In a sense, Verizon does rule the air. Aren't they the biggest cellular service company in the US right now? I'm not sure on that one.
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RE: Verizon can't hear you--it's ruling the air now
Phostenix 30th Jun 2010
@Ktroje Interesting that I'm immediately a "nutjob". Seems a little bigoted. Why don't technology and the creator of the universe mix? God is the ultimate engineer.
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Rule the air? I guess it could mean they have
John Zern 28th Jun 2010
a whole lot of jet fighters?
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"Verizon can't hear you"
TheNebraskaGal 1st Jul 2010
THIS is about as close to the truth as it gets! With Verizon's recent take-over of Alltel in my region, they have brought with them poor customer service, limitations & higher fees on preciously-unlimited services, a 'deaf ear' to customer complaints & an arrogant attitude that finally got them FIRED as my carrier. I'd much rather deal with Sprint's smaller network for it's unlimited plans at nearly ONE-THIRD the cost of Verizon's comparable limited services than continue to dole out my hard-earmed dollars to this monstrosity gone mad. The moment they stopped treating me with respect as their customer, they spelled their own doom. Verizon rules NOTHING in my world now!

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