The longtime pitchman for Verizon’s iconic “Can you hear me now?” commercials has switched mobile providers.
Since 2002, Paul Marcarelli appeared in many commercials for Verizon during a successful ad campaign touting the carrier’s signal coverage. The ads were a huge success and put Marcarelli on the pop culture map. His contract with Verizon ended in 2011, but now, he’s found a new mobile phone provider to shill: Verizon’s longtime rival, Sprint.
Marcarelli was featured in a new advertisement for Sprint that debuted Sunday night during Game 2 of the NBA Finals, in which he acknowledges his past with Verizon.
“Hey I’m Paul and I use to ask if you could hear me now for Verizon. Not anymore. I’m with Sprint now. Because guess what? It’s 2016 and every network is great.” Marcarelli details what Sprint offers before throwing a nice reference to his past, saying “Can you hear that?”
It’s definitely weird to see Marcarelli working for another phone provider. It’s like if Flo from Progressive was pitching for GEICO, or if Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World started pitching for Pabst Blue Ribbon.
But people have to make a living, so it’s understandable though why he’d switch things up. Marcarelli has been more than successful in a similar role with Verizon in the past. Perhaps he can inject some energy into Sprint’s new ad campaign. It’s also a smart play on Sprint’s part as they can take some shots at Verizon via their new pitchman. The gig seems mutually beneficial to both parties.
