Verizon hopes its latest bundling promotion will result in growth of quad play bundles. Their latest campaign offers a Visa gift card of $200 which can be used to purchase a Verizon “DROID smartphone of the customer’s choice.”
“We’re enhancing the value for our TV and broadband customers by adding another screen to their viewing options with this DROID smartphone offer,” said Mike Ritter, Verizon’s chief marketing officer for consumer wireline and business services.
New customers who sign up for either a FiOS or DSL/DirecTV powered triple play bundle receive the DROID gift card offer, with a few catches. They have to agree to a two year term and also have to add a Verizon Wireless account. They also have to agree to accept Verizon’s quad play billing option ONE-BILL.
I’m not even going to try to breakdown all of the pricing associated with this campaign – let’s just say it’s quite byzantine due to all of the potential options and packages. Verizon does say the triple play bundle pricing under this campaign is about $10/month less than previous options.
The campaign is really just a play on words, considering the $200 gift card can be used for any Visa gift card purchase, and not only for the DROID smartphone. But Verizon is obviously trying to tie the two together – quad play bundle and free smartphone – to drive quad play adoption.
There is a bit of confusion surrounding the offer, which may be intentional. The campaign emphasizes a triple play bundle promotion. But it’s really a quad play campaign, since you have to add a wireless account to qualify for the gift card. Maybe Verizon has learned something through some research – when trying to sell a quad play bundle, don’t call it that — call it a triple play bundle with a wireless service requirement.
