• by Danielle Oster , July 11, 2024

After adding the brand to its portfolio as part of its acquisition of Tracfone in November 2021, Verizon rebranded Total Wireless as Total by Verizon in September of the following year. Now, after less than two years as Total by Verizon, the prepaid wireless brand is pivoting back to its former name, reestablishing its Total Wireless moniker as part of a broader brand refresh.

The refresh also includes a new visual identity and redesigned brand color palette featuring a purportedly proprietary shade of teal, bright yellow, dark blue, and hints of red to underscore the relationship with the Verizon network.

The refresh is being introduced alongside a series of new offers designed to address unmet consumer needs in the category, including the ability to access Verizon's 5G network; a $200 credit toward a new phone after one year via a rewards program; and a five-year monthly price lock guarantee.

Verizon Value CMO Cheryl Gresham told Marketing Daily the brand wanted to balance existing customer confusion about the brand's connection to Verizon, which led some customers to believe it was only offered through Verizon stores -- while still underscoring the benefits of the Verizon network

“You’re going to continue to see red in the color scheme, but it’s going to be purposeful,” Gresham said, with the shade cropping up “whenever you see the word Verizon, but also when you see the phones, the network...we want to make sure we’re illustrating that power of Verizon behind the phone and network to [show] that’s fueling that part of the proposition.”

To support the refresh and new features, the brand is launching a multipronged campaign designed to reach a wide, multicultural audience, running across CTV, social media and digital channels, OOH, and event marketing.

This includes a prominent Spanish-language component running on Univision and Televista, building on the brand’s recent efforts to meet a Spanish-speaking audience – including running an ad during Univision’s broadcast of the Super Bowl.

Gresham said the brand’s core audience were multicultural consumers in their 20s to 40s who live in urban areas and typically were balancing work -- often across multiple jobs –- with raising a family.

“We’ve been doing research for well over a year about [consumer pain points in the category]  and price always comes up: that lack of predictability, a feeling that they’re getting taken advantage of, the reality of not knowing the cost on a month to month basis,” she said, adding that the brand’s 5-year price lock, inclusive of taxes and fees, provides a solution to the problem. 

“Because they don't want to have a contract,  the category has sold them this idea [that] you don't get as good of a network” Gresham said, areas where she claimed Verizon’s network capabilities, offer of 5G options in the category, and new 5-year price guarantee offered benefits over the competition.

The refreshed brand identity was also informed by Total Wireless’ understanding of its own audience, including the importance of investing in reaching multicultural consumers.

“The Latino audience has been a core part of what Total is and stands for from [well] before this brand refresh,” Gresham said. “We work with partners consistently that have that as part of their DNA, and [it’s something] we’re always thinking about, even with naming and the language we use.”

According to Gresham, the brand tapped a team of designers based in Mexico City to help inform the visual brand refresh and examine how successful brands marketed themselves in Spanish-speaking countries. “We have a multicultural team working with me, and working at Verizon Value as part of our team, and part of our agency partners’ teams."