Verizon’s Biggest Gift -- a VCast Channel

Gifts mean more when they contain a piece of the giver, No dah, right? The galleries of precious mother’s day art on refrigerator doors all over the world prove that. With their support of the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement project, Verizon has shown that it is has many lessons to teach corporate America about the fine art of giving. The best giving is when you give a part of you.

I had pitched the idea of the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcements to other potential partners before I got to Verizon. Those groups were usually excited about the technology. But “couldn’t you do a project around the environment or literacy or …” I understood their reticence. AIDS is about sex, disease, blood, and it is always political. But the young people around the world who are making cell phones a powerful medium for the future are the ones at the greatest risk. Nope, we were doing this project on AIDS -- that wasn’t going to change.

Truthfully, when I sat down in a boardroom of Verizon executives to ask them to fund the AIDS PPSA project I didn’t expect the meeting be much different. Verizon is the biggest cellular provider in U.S. Market leaders aren’t usually known for taking risks. The public relations department in a company that is number 17 on the Fortune 500 would naturally be leery of attaching their precious brand to controversial causes. Today I count that meeting as one of the highlights of my career. I wish you could have seen those corporate types (and I mean that in a loving way) banging out ideas for how their bread and butter products and services could be used to help people stay healthy. That is something I will never forget.

Verizon has provided funding for the last two AIDS PPSA projects –Philadelphia in November and Atlanta in April. They have written generous checks to buy equipment, travel, food, whatever. They never blinked an eye.

But they knew we wanted something more. Verizon Wireless is a daily part of over 80 million American’s lives. We wanted to reach those users. We wanted Verizon to help.

Last Friday (6/20/08) Verizon came through in a big way that we couldn’t even have imagined. Verizon Wireless created a special channel on its mobile video network, VCast. On the “Take Control. Take the Test.” channel, VCast subscribers can see all of the approved AIDS PPSAs. Crazy great! But that isn’t all. Verizon has also placed the videos on it FiOS network – that is Verizon’s state of the art telecommunication system that delivers voice, data, and video to homes using an all fiber network. There has never been a fiber to the home network before. And now you can watch the AIDS PPSAs in blinding speed FiOS.

Verizon has given more than funding. Verizon has given us a part of itself. With these important Verizon channels, we have the potential to change people’s lives for the better. Verizon is truly a company that knows how to give. Thanks.