• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 21, 2016

Sprint has responded to Verizon’s recently released Jamie Fox ads with a new ad of its own featuring Paul Marcarelli, who did the iconic “Can You Hear Me Now?” ads for Verizon a few years back. 

The new Sprint ad, released Friday (from its ad agency Deutsch), is the third it has done with Marcarelli, who became a Sprint spokesman earlier this year. 

The latest Marcarelli ad opens with him being recognized by a woman while sitting on a park bench. The woman notes that she also switched to Sprint and asks, “Have you seen all the whining from Verizon?” 

Marcarelli responds, “I think Verizon the Goliath is panicking. People are switching to Sprint. All networks are great now, and people are tired of overpaying. Sprint’s network covers nearly 300 million people and their reliability is within 1% of Verizon.” 

The ad has a hometown connection for Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint. It was filmed in nearby Kansas City’s Loose Park. 

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure unveiled the new ad on Twitter with a set of pointed posts aimed at Verizon who he also referred to as “Goliath” while signing off as #David. 

The new ad follows Sprint’s unveiling of its new “Unlimited Freedom” subscription plan late last week.