Verizon 'The Reset' | Lag IRL Stunt

As a leading telecom and tech brand, Verizon has a lot at stake in convincing Avid Gamers that Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband is truly distinct. But as more brands enter the space, the more they’re met with skepticism and frustration—especially brands without a gaming history. Verizon couldn’t just appear with a list of RTBs trying to sell gamers on service. First Verizon needed to prove it was a true community insider, understanding the frustrations of lag and the joy of nerding out over favorite games.



So we brought those digital frustrations to life through a mind-bending, eye-catching installation on one of New York’s busiest corners. Inspired by our hero spot, “The Reset,” in which laggy network issues are transposed onto the real world, we recreated pieces of New York iconography (yellow cabs, wire trash cans, green tables, chairs, and park benches, etc.) that appeared to be disrupted by lag, and placed them where they all actually live IRL: Union Square.



The yellow cab was “sunken” into the street, as if the road hadn’t loaded yet, with a streetlight stuck straight through the hood of the car. The trash can was stuck glitching from one place to another, with its walls only tangentially connected to its lid, as pixelated trash spewed from the top. The park bench went from full color and high-definition to pixelated and gray, extended so long the object “broke,” and had a bicycle stuck impossibly through it. Chairs had duplicated randomly around the table, resulting in a massive mountain of interlocked chairs.



The piece sported minimal branding, primarily in the form of a few hidden Verizon logos, streetlight stickers from our partners, and a QR code replacing the checker pattern of a chessboard on our table.



The installation drew passersby all weekend long, and was shared widely over social media, including shares and features from numerous popular city sightseeing blogs and influencers. The result was a build that stopped people in their tracks, depicted common lag-related gaming issues, and positioned 5G Ultra Wideband as the solution.