Verizon’s Virtual Fortnite Stadium.
Verizon
This is not the Super Bowl anyone planned. But Diego Scotti, chief marketing officer of Verizon, said the company is approaching this year’s game with the idea that it would be the brand’s “best Super Bowl ever” as it seeks to reach consumers in new ways this year.
The company will appear in various ways around the biggest marketing day of the year and build on its Super Bowl ad featuring elements such as a Verizon Stadium in Fortnite and a Super Bowl game night concert to support small businesses, featuring artists such as Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys. Verizon will also have a large presence with its 5G service at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where the game will be held Sunday, with features he hopes will help manage safety and pressure (despite limited attendance) this year).
“I personally believe the Super Bowl is an excellent platform, regardless of the circumstances,” Scotti said. “Because of course it brings people together like very few events in the year … it creates a platform for big news and engagement.”
Some other companies prefer to reduce this Super Bowl effort to an extraordinarily difficult year.
“We followed the opposite approach,” he said. “It started with a moment for us in which two things are happening: one is the development of our technology with 5G, and the second is the work that is currently so much needed to help move society forward.”
Scotti added many consumers are looking for a little distraction.
“I think an important thing to remember is that even in such moments, we have to think that everyone is also in the mood for a little fun, a little entertainment, a little escape,” he said. Not to forget all the difficult things that are happening, [but to have] also a sense of hope that we will get through this. And these are ways to get together, too. ‘
Verizon says it has spent more than $ 80 million on improving its network to support the Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium and surrounding areas. But whether fans attend the game or not, the company has also built a ‘5G SuperStadium’ into the NFL mobile app for certain iPhone users to watch the game from different angles. The company also has a free “Watch Together” mode in the Yahoo Sports app, so people can watch and chat with their friends and family.
The “Verizon 5G Stadium” in the creative mode of Fortnite is another part of the plan that allows people to compete for prizes and communicate with NFL players and pro players in football-inspired games.
The company is also starting to help small businesses with its “Big Concert for Small Business”. The show begins after the Super Bowl at 11pm ET and is hosted by Tiffany Haddish with performances by Alicia Keys, Miley Cyrus, Christina Aguilera, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Jazmine Sullivan, HER and Brittany Howard. The concert is broadcast online in many places, including YouTube, Twitter and TikTok, and via BET, CBS Sports Network and other channels. The event will ask people to send an SMS to a non-profit organization that supports small businesses.
Verizon will also donate $ 10 million to a non-profit local start-up corporation, which will help provide financial support to businesses. It also promises to help a million businesses with digital tools and support by 2030.
“We also had to use the Super Bowl as a platform to influence the community and society in a bigger way,” Scotti said. “Definitely one of the areas that has been more affected by what’s going on is small businesses.”
And then the company will have its place in the game, which she still likes. Scotti would just say it’s going to be incredible.
Nominations are open for 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50, a list of private companies that use breakthrough technology to become the next generation of large public companies. if by Friday, Feb. 12 at 3 p.m. EST.