When was the last time you saw an ad for a TV provider and thought to yourself, "Wow, this is enjoyable," rather than, "Oh my God, I hate you, stop trying to take all my money, and by the way I'm shocked that your service is actually working long enough for me to see this ad"?
Never? Well, then you've never seen this spot from McCann and MRM for Verizon FiOS starring the delightful Craig Robinson.
Robinson, who also stars in the new Dodge Dart ads, is one of those actors who's virtually impossible not to like, assuming you're not a sociopath. (Regardless of how over The Office you were by Season 9, Darryl Philbin was never not endearing.) He's also an excellent song stylist, as evidenced by his roles in films like This Is the End (even Rihanna was taken by his original ballad, "Take Yo Panties Off") and the classic Hot Tub Time Machine (in which he manages to make the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started" considerably less terrible).
So, what better way for Verizon to promote its FiOS Quantum TV service than to have Robinson sing about it in a mock infomercial for a CD compilation?
In songs like "Record Your Heart Out" and "I Save Every Show About Hoarders," Robinson drops not-so-subtle hints about his DVR capacity (200 hours) and the number of Hoarders episodes he has saved (167 and counting). Even without audio previews, the titles of other tunes like "Girl, I'm 'Bout to Binge With You" and "Damn, Fishing Gets All Dangerous" speak for themselves. In Robinson's smooth voice, that is. Which you will never, ever, ever want to stop listening to.
Verizon, incidentally, doesn't even really even need much of a reputation boost compared with its industry competitors. Seriously, just ask any Verizon customer (yours truly included) how they feel about the company, and you're likely to find a level of enthusiasm generally reserved for puppies or Jennifer Lawrence—although much of that goodwill probably comes by virtue of Verizon simply not being Comcast or Time Warner.
Still, if you're going to run a legitimately funny ad campaign, it's undeniably a plus to know your customers aren't throwing blunt objects at the screen instead of laughing along.
CREDITS
Client: Verizon FiOS
Agency: McCann, MRM
Global Creative Chairman: Rob Reilly
Chief Creative Officers: Sean Bryan, Tom Murphy
Group Creative Director, Copy: Jesse Potack
Group Creative Director, Art: Benjamin Vendramin
Creative Director: Doug D’Arrigo
Associate Creative Director, Copy: Justin Feinstein
Associate Creative Director, Art: Dai Tran
Senior Art Director: Bill Chamberlin
Copy: Nick Morgan
Senior Integrated Producer: Meredith Rizzardi
Executive Producer: Alice Mintzer
Producer: Shelley Giera
Production:
Director: Randy Krallman
Production Company: Smuggler
Editor: Miky Wolf
Editing Company: Big Sky
Mix Studio: Sonic Union
Sound Mixer: Paul Weiss
Music by JSM Music
Post/GFX: Charlex
Group Account Director: Michael Goldstein
Account Directors: Nicole Witover, Jennifer Prieto
Management Supervisor: Brynn Todesco