Digiday Publishing Summit:

Connect with execs from The New York Times, TIME, Dotdash Meredith and many more

SECURE YOUR SEAT

#IGotVerizon: Verizon gets trolled over promoted Twitter hashtag

Fresh off announcing a slate of new data plans, Verizon thought it would be a good idea to promote it with a sponsored hashtag on Twitter.

The hashtag, #IGotVerizon, was meant to sway people to make the switch and encourage people to tweet positively about the brand, like this:

Instead, it quickly went haywire. Hundreds of furious Twitter users hijacked the hashtag to complain about the company, slamming the new plans in a communal therapy session. 

Here are some examples:

Competitors saw the opportunity and jumped in like the CEOs of Sprint and T-Mobile:

Verizon ranks toward the bottom when it comes to customer satisfaction, so letting people openly comment on the brand probably wasn’t its smartest idea. The company didn’t immediately reply for comment about the campaign.

https://digiday.com/?p=187380

More in Marketing

Generative AI sparks brand safety concerns marketers know all too well

Despite concerns around brand misuse and IP, most marketers are sticking to traditional strategies.

‘Production is a big topic right now’: With AI moving beyond media, Publicis turns toward creative

The holdco is positioning AI as core infrastructure for ad production not just media buys.