• WSJ (paid subscription required), Thursday, April 13, 2006 12:30 PM

Verizon Communications is taking a decidedly different approach to marketing its new television service than it did with its residential phone and high-speed Internet offerings. In the case of the latter, the company relied on traditional ad campaigns to market the services nationally. But with its new TV service, Verizon is employing more out of the box marketing tools such as viral marketing and a grassroots effort that involves door-to-door sales efforts. The local approach is being tried out in Fairfax County, Va., one of the first places that Verizon is offering its new TV service. To get its message across, the company has put its logo on pizza boxes and Chinese food takeout containers and given away discounted fuel at a gas station and free coffee to commuters. On Valentine's Day, Verizon positioned workers at shopping centers to hand out free roses wrapped in Verizon promotional paper. The company knows it is competing with local cable TV companies, many of which are entrenched in their communities, and that's the reason behind the strategy. "We want high-impact tactics and memorable [ones], but very, very local," says Christopher McKay, who heads the Virginia marketing effort for Verizon. Consumers can expect to see similar scenarios around the nation in the near future as telephone and cable operators race to offer the most attractive packages of phone, TV, wireless phone and high speed Internet services. The war is likely going to be decided on a market-by-market basis, with the winner being the one with the best packaging, pricing and local marketing .

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