Very Tacky Verizon, Very (Bleeping) Tacky:

[wyvern]

I attended the funeral procession today for Staff Sgt Amy Krueger who was from my home town of Kiel. Kiel is a small town in Wisconsin of only 3200 people and trust me, in a town that size, we all knew Amy or know her family. Amy was killed at Fort Hood last week. The streets were lined today for the procession carrying her body that was arriving from Milwaukee to the funeral home in Kiel. Police, Fire, The Patriot Riders, Family, Friends and Military personnel made up the large funeral procession.

Verizon decided to park one of those mobile truck billboards, you know the kind you see that drive around big cities that are narrow and two sided, right on the route of the procession. The driver got there about 30 mins before the procession and sat in the cab the entire time and drove off when it was done.

National and local media is covering much of the events of this week for Amy's memorial and funeral.

I am angry that Verizon is trying to benefit off of a tragedy and a soldier being killed. It is absolutely fucking disgusting.

Do what I am doing. Call Verizon and let them know that taking advantage of a small town hero soldier killed by a terrorist on home soil hat to market a wireless phone will not be allowed.

I am so mad now that I didnt go over there, confront him and take care of the situation right then and there, but I guess I was thinking it wasnt the right place to start a fight. Many grade school students were lining the streets.

[will]

What a spectacularly tacky promotion. I hope the national press has the good graces to make sure their billboard doesn't get any airplay of any kind.

[jeromeoneil]

Well, it probably wasn't Verizon, per se. Those trucks are owned independently of the companies advertise on them, and don't usually pick where they park. Verizon probably has a billion dollar marketing budget, and buy that kind of stuff in bulk.

You should let them know about it, though. That is tacky as all hell.

[john]

that's a crappy thing to do.

[wyvern]

First of all, thank you very much for those that called, wrote and discussed the situation I laid out that occurred Tuesday in Kiel for Staff Sgt Amy Krueger's procession home.

Verizon got the message. The PR Manager for the area has been flooded with calls, some of which got a bit graphic from what I understand. While I don't condone that, I understand as I was very angry too, to say the least. I was so angry I started this media blitz bringing to light the fact that someone at Verizon Wireless thought it would be a good idea to park a mobile billboard truck on the street in downtown Kiel, right on the route that the procession was using to the funeral home.

So, no more calls are necessary to Ms. Caroline Schaumberger. She has spent the last day and a half trying to find out what happened yesterday regarding the mobile billboard.

She has been in contact with me regularly throughout the day. Although she is basically doing crisis control and some PR spin, she does understand our anger.

Basically, the driver has changed his story several times throughout the day regarding why and where he was yesterday when confronted with updated and ongoing information. It didn't help that the editor of the Kiel newspaper has video footage showing the vehicle parked on the street, and not in a parking lot with other trucks as he told his supervisor and PR Manager when confronted. It would appear that the driver and the mobile advertising company made the decision to be there. Verizon Wireless is still investigating on their end to see if any manager signed off or indicated that the mobile billboard should be placed in Kiel during the procession. They went as far to say that the driver was pre-scheduled to be on that route at that time (to which I ask anyone from Kiel if they have ever seen that mobile billboard previously), to saying he was from the area (but stated he didn't know what was going on in Kiel yesterday that was attracting all the people),to saying he didn't want to interfere with all the traffic, so he just pulled over to park until it was done (traffic, in Kiel? Besides, the roads were not closed and traffic was not that much heavier as the street were all ready lined with mourners), to saying he was paying his respects (from the cab of a truck, facing the wrong way, of which he never got out). Any which way, the driver is the one without any tact, conscious or ethics.

I am still angry at Verizon Wireless and the marketing company trying to benefit from the death of a brave soldier. It will not be forgotten soon by me, or hopefully by you, if at all. If you want to express your displeasure, feel free to write them or continue to post comments on various forum boards and social networking sites. But, phone calls to Ms. Schaumberger are no longer necessary. But remember that Verizon Wireless did try to benefit off of a tragedy next time you need to shop for wireless service.

Thank you very much for your outpouring of support. Feel free to contact me if you would like any future updates on what Verizon Wireless finds out through their investigation or how they address it.

[wyvern]

This is the response I received this morning from Verizon Wireless.
--
Verizon Wireless would like to apologize to the family of Staff Sergeant Amy Krueger and the community of Kiel, Wis., for a mobile billboard that was seen along the procession route for St. Sgt. Krueger’s return to Kiel on November 10.
We want to be clear in stating that it was not pre-motivated initiative by Verizon Wireless or the vendor we contract with to handle our mobile advertising. Our mobile advertising is determined weeks in advance, and the mobile billboard was scheduled to be in the Kiel area on Tuesday.
Upon arriving into Kiel early that afternoon and learning of the activities that were to shortly take place, the driver of the mobile billboard—an employee of an outside agency--decided to take time out to observe the procession. He then parked the vehicle near the procession route. In doing so, we understand that many were left with the impression that Verizon Wireless was looking to benefit from this somber occasion. That is absolutely not the case. The driver made this decision on his own and was solely motivated by the desire to watch the proceedings.
As well-intentioned as the driver may have been on Tuesday, we believe his decision-making was very misguided. Please know that we take the concerns expressed by members of the community very seriously and are pursuing corrective action with the vendor who handles our mobile advertising.

_________________________
Caroline Schaumberger
PR Manager IL/WI Region

Regardless, I know I will not be using Verizon Wireless in the future and I hope you think of what they did when you need wireless service.

Can you hear me know, Verizon?

[scissors]

Death. Brought you by: Verizon™!

[wyvern]

I am sure many of you are rolling your eyes and saying "not again.......". Well, I am one of you. I was really done with the Verizon Wireless incident in Kiel last Tuesday. I had news and radio shows contacting me on Thursday and Friday wanting to interview and discuss the incident and after talking with members of the Amy Krueger family, I declined the offers and decided to just let it be. Verizon Wireless got pummeled in the court of popular opinion.

Then, I got the email below....................

I felt I needed to forward this email from the driver of the Verizon Wireless Mobile billboard vehicle for several reasons. For one, it now gives you all angles for you to establish an opinion, if you so choose. You heard from the viewpoint of the offended Kiel person (my initial email), the corporate damage control, PR spin response from Verizon, and now the driver.

I also wanted to forward the email as it contradicts what Verizon Wireless (VzW) was stating. VzW stated the driver "was from the area" and "was scheduled to be in Kiel". The driver is from Green Bay. That is not from the area. I would have given them "the area" if he was from within 25 miles of Kiel, or heck, even from Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Calumet or Fond du Lac counties. Not Brown Co. I don't go around telling people I am from "The Madison area". Then, the driver stated he could have "been anywhere that day, and just by coincidence was in Kiel". Per VzW, this was a scheduled route.

Here is the driver's angry response, unedited as it arrived (syntax/spelling errors not altered). It was forwarded to me by the editors of the Kiel Tri-County Record (www.iwantthenews.com)

-------------------------

Submitted by: Stephen R. Rutten


Topic: Verizon Truck Nov.10 2009


I'd like to let Jeanet Alili and all other Kiel residents just why I was there the day the motorcade brought back the body of Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger. When I left Green Bay that day I could have gone to Appleton, Oshkosh, Brillion, Fond da Lac, or any other city or town with in 75 miles of Green Bay. It just happened to be Kiel. Let me explain my job. I drive to a city or town and find places that have high visibility and people around. Park for 30 -45 minutes take some photos and move to another spot and do the same thing over and over for 8 hours. So yes, you could possibly see the truck moving around town from time to time. That would be a good thing, meaning that I was doing my job. It was just a coincidence I was there that day. I swear, I did not know that this was the day that Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger body was coming home. When I learned what was happening I parked the truck, paid my respect, and only after the motorcade went past. I then went back to work just like students went back to school and other people went back to doing their job. My deepest synthesis goes out to Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger's family and the people of Kiel on there lose. People like Amy have died so that you and I and every one that lives in America can have rights. And everyone can also have a different opinion. It just so happens that this time someone's opinion cost me my job. So congratulation is due to some of the fine people of Kiel for doing that. I broke no laws that day and I had the right to be there. Evidently some of you feel you can decide who gets rights and who doesn't. With everything happening In Kiel this week I find it very hard to believe that this is something people are putting so much energy into. Once again I'd my deepest synthesis to Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger's family.


Peace


Stephen R. Rutten
Submitter's email: [e-mail]


-----------------------------

What really offends me by the email above was the fact that the driver basically stated he did what he set out to do, get exposure. This was not a letter of apology. Also, if this guy feels he did nothing wrong, why was he fired?

Why didn't someone at Verizon Wireless or the mobile advertising company that schedules these routes know what was going on and instruct the driver to avoid the area?

After seeing all angles, I am further reinforced in my opinion that Verizon Wireless made a conscious effort to be in Kiel and get exposure and now are just trying to cover their tracks.

It makes all this even more despicable. Not only did Verizon Wireless try to benefit off the death of an American Soldier, they lied. They could have just stated "we are sorry" and that would have gone a long way. Now, they are lying to cover themselves and trying to justify what happened. There is no justification. Also, Verizon Wireless has yet to name the mobile advertising company. By protecting them, the focus of the negative PR needs to lie squarely on the shoulders of Verizon Wireless.

Please, please, please, if you are with Verizon Wireless, change your plan. If you ever need wireless service, completely avoid Verizon Wireless.

They are an unethical company in some of the worst ways.

[jimschmidt]

I'm sorry. I simply don't believe that they deliberatly tried to park around a funeral procession to get publicity. Verizon exemplifies the typical ethics of rank captialism in all they do, however, I don't see much other evidence of rank stupidity.

Sounds like groupthink to me. Any marketing novice would know this would go South in a hurry.

[jeromeoneil]

Dude, relax, and read that letter. They driver says it was purely coincidence that he was there. Verizon didn't have anything to do with it.