Marketing exec wants to shift Verizon's transactional image into one more tied to people's lives

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Communications has long enjoyed its position as the leading provider of mobile services in the U.S. But a new trend of price-conscious customers holding onto their old phones has hurt the bottom line for telecom companies seeking to capitalize off the sale of new mobile phone lines.

Enter Verizon Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland, who joined the telecom giant in January. She was Twitter’s first chief marketing officer nearly a decade ago and spent about a year at Peloton after leaving the social media platform in 2022. She started at Verizon in January and announced the company’s first rebrand in nine years, including a bold update to the iconic checkmark logo.

The rebrand has been paired with fresh promotion of Verizon's myPlan platform, which allows customers to pick and pay for select services. Verizon also announced a partnerships with streaming services — such as Netflix and Disney — to offer promotional bundles.

Berland spoke to The Associated Press about the strategy behind the rebrand, and why it was necessary to keep the company growing. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Question: What compelled Verizon to rebrand now?

Answer: Verizon is an extremely known brand in this country. I think it’s about 99% awareness. And what the research will show you is that we are seen as a respected, trusted, reliable brand and company. And that is a dream state for any company, big or small, right?

But what we also found is that because so much of what Verizon does is invisible. You don’t see it and you don’t feel it, (the service) just works. And so what we saw in the research, there is sort of a distance between the brand and the consumer. So yes, we’re a (telecom) company but we’re also a life company, but people don’t...