“The Leak” is a multi-platform ad campaign that kicked off with a 2024 Super Bowl TV commercial. During the ad, J Balvin, a famous musician, had his phone number displayed and encouraged his fans to text him. Verizon wanted to prove that “You can break the internet, but you can’t break our network.”
The technique used to evoke an emotional response was to provide the excitement of direct engagement with J Balvin, so that the network stress test could demonstrate Verizon’s reliability.
The objectives of the ad campaign were to get as many people as possible to text J Balvin’s number. Verizon set up a number of processes to handle the volume of incoming calls and texts, including an AI program to respond to fans like J Balvin would and additional infrastructure to handle the spike in call and text volume. As a result of the campaign, people would be more aware of Verizon’s network capabilities and more likely to keep Verizon at the front of their minds when choosing a phone provider.
The target market for the campaign was J Balvin fans, but more broadly, I think the ad tried to appeal to customers who appreciate engaging with popular culture. The action the ad wanted the audience to take was to text or call J Balvin at the number shown during the commercial. If the action is taken, the audience member will receive a reply from an AI purporting to be J Balvin, which will generate excitement among those uninformed.
The value proposition of the service offered during the campaign is that Verizon has the largest and best cellular network, which consumers should consider when selecting their phone carrier.
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