• by Aaron Baar , December 3, 2017

Technology has become such a central part of our daily lives that it can be easily forgotten that wireless companies can do much more than simply enable person-to-person communication. 

Verizon this weekend is launching a campaign that showcases how the services the company provides help businesses, people and society accomplish many industry-changing good works. The campaign, which uses the term “Humanabilty” to get its point across, first aired on NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast. 

“When people think of Verizon, they often view us as only a wireless carrier but the reality is, technology is at the core of everything we do — helping to innovate in telematics, IoT, smart cities, healthcare, food safety and more,” Verizon CMO Diego Scotti, tells Marketing Daily. “What we are doing with ‘Humanability’ is bringing the sum of all those parts of our businesses together under one umbrella, and showing how it impacts society — it's a purpose-driven approach that we're really proud of.”

At the center of the effort is a series of short films highlighting the work the company is doing. One film, for instance, covers how Verizon has been working with Sacramento, Calif., to install sensors in the roads (“smart asphalt”) and cameras on traffic lights to monitor traffic patterns and reduce idling time and emissions to help the environment. “We don’t wait for the future,” the spot concludes. “We build it.” 

Other films showcase how Verizon’s advancements in connectivity can help improve healthcare in rural and underserved areas and using connected sensors to monitor food safety.

“Now is the time to unveil how we’re harnessing our technology, working with innovators and businesses to turn exciting world-changing ideas into a reality today,” Scotti says. “And by helping to build this future, we’re preparing for new markets and revenue opportunities that are going to emerge.”

The “Humanability” campaign is a part of multi-tiered strategy for the company to showcase its many facets of business, Scotti says. While the company will continue to tout its network strength in much of its mainstream advertising, the “Humanability” work reinforces how that strength helps enable other work. (It also provides a showcase for the company’s investors, business leaders and influencers.)

“Our storytelling around the network and ‘Humanability’ allow us to create different layers of meaning for the brand across different audiences,” Scotti says.  “Communicating our network superiority becomes increasingly important when you think about how reliant people are on their devices which means their interaction with us also increases in frequency. … Through ‘Humanability,’ we are striving to educate our stakeholders and show the work that we've been doing and get them excited on the potential of what our technology can unlock.”

Beyond Sunday Night Football, the campaign will run on networks such as Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business and CNN. The films will also be shared via the company’s digital channels and social networks, Scotti says. 

“Early next year, you'll see a new series of videos that demonstrate how our technology helps to enable disaster recovery, close the digital divide, grow small businesses and transform digital media — it's an exciting time for us and the potential of what we can do is unlimited,” Scotti says.