• by Les Luchter , September 12, 2023

Total by Verizon has certainly been in a responsive mood.

Last month, the year-old prepaid mobile provider responded to an increase in New York City transit fares by giving away free Metrocards.

Now, it’s responded to social media’s “Ugly Phone Case Challenge” with its own ugly phone case sweepstakes.

In case you’ve missed it, the “Ugly Phone Case Challenge,” in which people swap such cases with each other before going on vacation or a night out, took social media by storm this summer, with more than 220 million views on TikTok alone.

One person’s idea of “ugly” can be another’s idea of “cute,” as Marketing Daily learned in perusing several TikTok Ugly Phone Case Challenge videos, each with millions of views.

“That yellow slipper case is really so cute,” wrote one commenter to this post (you can see the yellow slipper at the 0:18 mark). Commenters to this post, however, seemed to agree that a phone case in the shape and size of a foot won top honors (see it at the 0:23  mark).

Total by Verizon’s #TotalUpgradeSweepstakes, running on Instagram through Sept. 19, will award 10 winners with an “ultimate” custom-designed ugly phone case. They’ll also get six months of Total by Verizon Unlimited service, with the total package valued at $350.

In its first week, the sweepstakes had received more than 2,000 entries without any paid media support,  Cheryl Gresham, chief marketing officer of Verizon Value, told Marketing Daily. “We're grateful to our social team -- and of course all the on-trend consumers online -- for the tremendous engagement."

To enter the sweepstakes, consumers need to follow @TotalbyVerizon on Instagram, tag a friend they’ll give the ugly case to in the comments, and include the sweepstakes hashtag.