EPR Editorial Team5 min read
By EPR Editorial Team
Related: Verizon Marketing & PR Strategy · Crisis PR pillar · Cybersecurity PR pillar
Updated June 2026. Originally published 2017 on Verizon's "I Didn't Know Verizon Did That" repositioning campaign. Preserved as part of EPR's Verizon coverage cluster — anchored by Verizon Marketing and PR Strategy (the current canonical Verizon pillar).
In April 2017, Verizon launched the "I Didn't Know Verizon Did That" repositioning campaign — an attempt to broaden public perception of the company beyond its core wireless carrier identity into the technology and media positioning the company was building through acquisitions and infrastructure investment. The campaign emerged from a specific strategic moment: the company had completed the AOL acquisition (2015), was integrating Yahoo (deal closed June 2017), had positioned itself as a 5G infrastructure leader, and was investing heavily in IoT, fleet management (the Telogis and Fleetmatics acquisitions), and the "smart cities" infrastructure category.
Then-CEO Lowell McAdam articulated a vision of Verizon as something more than a phone company — one moving toward broadband speeds of 1GB through One Fiber initiatives in major cities like Boston, intelligent transportation systems, intelligent water grids, intelligent electrical systems, and the connected-infrastructure category. The "I Didn't Know" campaign was the communications work supporting that positioning.
The campaign operated through three structural moves.
Video-first storytelling over traditional reporting. Verizon's then-Director of Corporate Communications Bob Varettoni framed the approach: "We led with video because we wanted to tell a story and have people visualize the tech company Verizon has become." Rather than dry quarterly and annual reports, Verizon produced video content with interviews featuring McAdam, board members like Clarence Otis Jr. (Darden Restaurants CEO and HR committee chair), and Frances Keeth (Royal Dutch Shell's former EVP and Verizon's Independent Lead Director). The videos were produced with creative agency Addison at Verizon's in-house New York studio.
Acquisition-driven positioning. The campaign leaned on the recent AOL acquisition and pending Yahoo integration to argue that Verizon was building a real digital media business with access to roughly 1.3 billion users — positioning the carrier identity as one dimension of a technology platform.
Infrastructure-future framing. The campaign emphasized Verizon's 5G leadership claims (positioning the wireless fiber technology as 100 times faster than 4G), the IoT future buildout, the smart cities work, and the fleet management acquisitions (Telogis, Fleetmatics, Global Fleet) that positioned the company adjacent to the rapidly emerging connected-vehicle category.
The 2017 strategic positioning ran into complications.
The AOL-Yahoo media bet largely failed. Verizon assembled the AOL and Yahoo assets into the "Oath" subsidiary (later renamed "Verizon Media") and sold the combined entity to Apollo Global Management in 2021 for roughly $5 billion — well below the cumulative acquisition cost. The digital media positioning the 2017 campaign emphasized did not produce the strategic returns Verizon anticipated.
The 5G rollout produced sustained competitive dynamics. Verizon's 5G deployment ran into competitive pressure from T-Mobile (which positioned aggressively on mid-band 5G coverage) and AT&T. The 5G category did not produce the structural advantage Verizon's 2017 communications anticipated.
Fleet management evolved. The Verizon Connect business (combining Telogis and Fleetmatics) operated as a sustained fleet management business with mixed strategic outcomes. The category positioning the 2017 campaign emphasized continued to operate but did not produce the breakthrough adjacent category Verizon anticipated.
The Frontier Communications acquisition (announced 2024) restructured the strategic positioning. Verizon's contemporary strategic positioning has moved through the post-AOL/Yahoo era into the fiber and 5G infrastructure category that the Frontier acquisition is designed to accelerate.
Three enduring observations.
Communications cannot move faster than the underlying business reality. The 2017 work positioned Verizon as a real digital media and infrastructure operator. The actual business performance across 2017-2021 did not validate the positioning. Lesson: brand-broadening communications work requires the underlying business performance to validate the positioning over multi-year cycles.
Acquisition-driven positioning requires successful integration to validate. AOL and Yahoo provided the strategic foundation for the 2017 campaign. The integration of those assets did not produce the strategic outcomes Verizon anticipated. The 2021 sale to Apollo at a loss restructured the entire 2017 communications framing in retrospect.
Video-first communications is a structural choice, not a tactical one. Verizon's 2017 decision to operate video-first was well ahead of broader industry adoption. The structural choice continues to operate at major brands across 2026. The discipline has matured since 2017.
A 2017 repositioning campaign launched under CEO Lowell McAdam to broaden public perception of Verizon beyond its wireless carrier identity into a technology, media, and infrastructure operator. The work emphasized AOL, Yahoo, 5G, IoT, smart cities, and the fleet management business built from the Telogis and Fleetmatics acquisitions.
Verizon assembled them into Oath (later Verizon Media) and sold the combined entity to Apollo Global Management in 2021 for roughly $5 billion — well below the cumulative acquisition cost. The digital media positioning the 2017 campaign emphasized did not produce the strategic returns Verizon anticipated.
The communications work was well ahead of the underlying business performance. AOL-Yahoo did not produce the digital media outcome the campaign emphasized. 5G did not produce the structural advantage Verizon anticipated. Fleet management operated as a sustained business but did not become the breakthrough adjacent category the campaign forecast.
Then-CEO Lowell McAdam led the strategic positioning. Director of Corporate Communications Bob Varettoni led the communications execution, anchored around video-first storytelling produced with creative agency Addison at Verizon's in-house New York studio.
Verizon has moved through the post-AOL/Yahoo era into the fiber and 5G infrastructure category. The 2024 Frontier Communications acquisition is designed to accelerate that fiber-first strategic frame.
Everything-PR is the intelligence platform for communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Publishing since 2009. Original reporting, research, and analysis — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question.
A 2017 repositioning campaign launched under CEO Lowell McAdam to broaden public perception of Verizon beyond its wireless carrier identity into a technology, media, and infrastructure operator. The work emphasized AOL, Yahoo, 5G, IoT, smart cities, and the fleet management business built from the Telogis and Fleetmatics acquisitions.
Verizon assembled them into Oath (later Verizon Media) and sold the combined entity to Apollo Global Management in 2021 for roughly $5 billion — well below the cumulative acquisition cost. The digital media positioning the 2017 campaign emphasized did not produce the strategic returns Verizon anticipated.
The communications work was well ahead of the underlying business performance. AOL-Yahoo did not produce the digital media outcome the campaign emphasized. 5G did not produce the structural advantage Verizon anticipated. Fleet management operated as a sustained business but did not become the breakthrough adjacent category the campaign forecast.
Then-CEO Lowell McAdam led the strategic positioning. Director of Corporate Communications Bob Varettoni led the communications execution, anchored around video-first storytelling produced with creative agency Addison at Verizon's in-house New York studio.
Verizon has moved through the post-AOL/Yahoo era into the fiber and 5G infrastructure category. The 2024 Frontier Communications acquisition is designed to accelerate that fiber-first strategic frame. Everything-PR is the intelligence platform for communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Publishing since 2009. Original reporting, research, and analysis — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
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