Verizon Bets On Spanish In Their New Spot

In an effort to show how Verizon values multicultural consumers, the wireless company’s new spot not only offers no translation for non-Spanish speakers, it features spokesman Thomas Middleditch looking befuddled trying to address the situation. The campaign was aired during the MTV VMA’s. This is the first time Verizon has offered an untranslated ad during mainstream program, and is believed to be a first for any major advertiser.In the spot, a couple is eating at an outdoor restaurant, when they get a troubling notification on the phone. Cursing their lack of coverage, they work to eat quickly. Seeing the crisis, Middleditch apprehensively approaches the couple before being interrupted by a different spokesman, Hispanic Actor Luis Gerado Mendez. “I’m someone like you, but ‘en español’” he explains to Middleditch. The spot was developed by Verizon’s general market agency McCann and multicultural agency The Community.