Verizon targets young adults living in apartment buildings with FiOS 50 campaign

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) kicked off a unique marketing campaign this week in the Washington, D.C., area in which it is using social media to pitch its FiOS TV and FiOS Internet services to adults ages 25 to 39 that live in multiple dwelling units.

Verizon's FiOS 50 targets MDU residents.

Its "FiOS 50" campaign uses Twitter and location-based social network foursquare to identify 50 of the "hottest, hippest, must visit places" in the D.C. metropolitan area, including restaurants, coffee shops and health clubs, Verizon director of media relations Bill Kula wrote in a blog post about the campaign. Participants can get discounts when they mention FiOS at one of the 50 venues, and Verizon will also offer discounts on FiOS products if they post messages on Twitter that contain links to Verizon.com.

Verizon's marketing campaign is unique in that it targets a narrow demographic--young adults living in apartment buildings, including consumers who have been forced to move from homes to smaller apartments because of the recession.

"The tough economy has forced many people to downsize and move into apartments and condos.  But that's no reason to sacrifice technology," Kula said. The campaign is focused on locations near apartment buildings in Washington and parts of Northern Virginia and Maryland, where Verizon competes with Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Cox Communications.

"Our goal is to take market share from local cable rivals Comcast and Cox, whose products and quality of service, we believe, don't stack up to our robust and reliable FiOS offering.  And, in particular, we're working to sign up more and more FiOS customers in the highly competitive multi-dwelling unit market," Kula said.

Verizon plans to expand the hyper-local FiOS 50 campaigns to other cities in the coming months, Kula added.

For more:
- See Verizon blog post

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