If you watched TV at all in the 2000s, you’ve likely seen Verizon’s ubiquitous pitchman – the one who endlessly asked, “Can you hear me now?”
Advertisement
Marcarelli’s first appearance for Sprint is titled ‘Paul Switched, ‘ and it addresses his defection from Verizon to Sprint.
He also notes that Sprint saves you “50%” on “most” Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile rates. They featured a bespectacled network tester asking “Can you hear me now?” in various locations to show the reach of Verizon’s network, and both the phrase and the tester became extremely well-known. A Verizon advertising executive told USA TODAY in 2004 that the company’s “casting specifications called for an everyman with something quirky or memorable about them”.
Before making the jump to Sprint, Macarelli spent nine years as Verizon’s pitchman, starting the gig in 2002 and appearing in 20 to 40 commercials each year. That claim is based on Sprint’s analysis of data provided by Nielsen.
After mentioning that he’s moved to Sprint, Marcarelli goes on to say that, “guess what, it’s 2016, and every network is great”.
Advertisement
“We’ve made tremendous advancements in our network during the past year, and Sprint’s network reliability is now within 1 percent difference of Verizon”, said Sprint president/CEO Marcelo Claure. Leave a comment down below and let everyone hear where you are now. “Within 1%. We don’t expect our customers would even notice such an insignificant difference”.
