I’m both an equal opportunity appreciator and hater on Apple’s iBranding and Steve Jobs as you can see from my past articles. It’s been such an iconic brand and has moved an entire market in a different direction. That’s why it’s so awesome seeing a company come out guns blazing with a commercial devoted to turning said brand into a farce.

You can see the amazingly popular video (860,000+ plays) embedded below:
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Couple of really interesting facts about the Droid campaign.

• It wasn’t Google, it was actually Verizon behind this ad.
• At no point did it attack AT&T whose network performance has been one of the biggest pain points that iPhone users have complained about.
• Verizon had to license the trademark for the term Droid from George Lucas…. Star Wars is still paying dividends
• The ad felt more like a movie preview from Michael Bay than your usual commercial fair.
• The words Apple or iPhone were never mentioned in the ad.

Apple Created the Target
It’s pretty easy to target Apple as they have a singular vision of a device and expect users to move to it or skip the product entirely. The focus on high margins, crisp user experience, and the Apple vision has always driven Apple’s Product Development.

Why is Verizon Targeting Apple?
This, at first glance, doesn’t make a lot of sense; just a month back there was a lot of speculation about Apple abandoning the AT&T exclusivity to make a deal with Verizon.

The problem here is that it’s extremely unlikely Apple would ever transition to the Verizon as the carrier utilizes CDMA technology which is most common in the US. Not including a keyboard in the iPhone wasn’t just an aesthetics decision, but it also meant Apple could sell 1 device in every country by just changing some software. While CDMA has its advantages, it would mean Apple building 2 different devices 1 on GSM and 1 on CDMA then add in the additional hardware cost CDMA has over GSM and it becomes clear Apple would have to go against their usual mold to do a deal.

Why Not AT&T
Customers often are not savy enough to tell the device failures from the service providers. While the iPhone has impeccable loyalty, AT&T doesn’t. By targeting Apple, Verizon is focusing on the largest threat: customer loyalty for the iPhone.

Conclusion
Verizon’s execution on this commercial was spotless. Best of all, they never gave any awareness back to Apple. Giving a competitor air time is always a dangerous move. Can you send a message strong enough to displace the added brand recognition you are giving them? By focusing on the iBranding, Verizon could set the tone of the commercial while not bolstering Apple’s brand further.

The verdict is still out on Android’s ability to move past Apple in this market, but the commercial is a stroke of genius for Verizon and a big win for Google. Turning the ubiquitous definition of what a phone is that Apple has created in their thought leadership into a negative is the right move. I, for one, am eager to see what further commercials Verizon can come up with.