Cheryl Gresham joined Verizon’s Visible phone carrier brand as chief marketing officer in December 2021. Gresham is no stranger to youth-targeted brands, previously serving as the head of U.S. Marketing at TikTok and global head of integrated media at YouTube.
Visible’s mission is to deliver mobile phone service to consumers across the country that is simple and accessible to everyone.
“What really attracted me to the role was the opportunity to come to a new and emerging company that is sitting at an intersection of the way we’ve always done it, versus the way it should be, if we started over today,” says Gresham. “The challenge for Verizon about Visible is, how do we disrupt but build a wireless company for today’s consumer? What I loved about it was this idea that we’ve seen through just the past several years, the disruption with things like mobile ordering, mobile car services like Uber and Lyft, everything being disrupted and changed, and we haven’t seen that with the wireless industry yet.”
Visible aims to be a disruptor for the mobile phone industry, the way Uber and Lyft were to taxis and UberEats and DoorDash are to food delivery. One way the brand is disrupting the industry is getting away from the benefits of family plans. Visible is for a younger generation that wants a simple cheap plan, not the family head searching for a good price for four lines.
“One of the things that I even get from my friends and family, when they learn about Visible, they understand the value proposition for us, which is you get a single line,” explains Gresham. “You don’t have to bring two or three other people with you and you get unlimited data text and calling for a really fair and low price. One of the things they often say is, ‘What’s the catch?’ They think it must not be as good of a service or it must not be available in their area.”
Gresham sees the opportunity for growth as exponential, and she is excited to help rewrite what phone service means. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
“Visible is one of the best wireless services out there, the best value that we have, and it just doesn’t come with all of the baggage that traditional wireless companies packaged in,” she says. “You don’t have to go inside a Target to go buy the service. You can do it all from your couch while you’re streaming your favorite shows. Whether you’re watching Bridgerton or you’re watching sports, you can sign up and switch and do everything you need for the service on your time in your own space.”
Brand Innovators caught up with Gresham from her home in Los Angeles to talk about the future of mobile phone service, the brand’s approach to singles and how the company is rethinking customer service for the metaverse. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
You joined Visible in December as Chief Marketing Officer. Congrats! What attracted you to the role and what are some of your first priorities or key initiatives since assuming the role?
I loved that my background at several different youth-focused and digital-focused brands could really be applied towards the new way of creating a phone service, and how it should be for consumers moving forward. Maybe things like 1-800 numbers and stores and shopping centers aren’t the way that people behave any longer to get the best wireless service that they need. I love that part. I loved the fact that Verizon is powering our brand and our company. There’s amazing leadership here. Angie Klein [CEO of Visible] is a spectacular leader. I was really excited to work with some of the best and brightest in this industry and be able to complement and bring my skills and my point of view to the company to hopefully make it something that’s really appealing and great for consumers.
You joined Visible from TikTok. Is there a role for emerging technologies like the metaverse and NFTs for Visible, and what might that look like if so?
I’m sure there is. We have been talking about it. And one of the things that we talk about a lot is this: do you need a phone store to come in or do you need a brick and mortar to have wireless service? And the answer is no. We have talked about a wireless service that is literally all digital in terms of its delivery to you, the way you sign up and the way you interact with it. How would it show up in the metaverse and I think there’s a lot of really great opportunities there for us to reach potential customers, but also interact with our members there. Why couldn’t we have customer service support in the metaverse for our members? We have customer service support through chat. But why couldn’t that chat or that connection point be in the metaverse? So we’re definitely thinking about those areas and opportunities and keeping an eye on things for us. And maybe you’ll see us show up there.
You recently launched an option that lets customers test the Visible platform for free before switching. Can you talk about the strategy behind this initiative and how it is going?
The technology exists now that you can change your phone service with what’s called an eSIM. We wanted to make that available to potential users to try us out. We developed an opportunity for people to try a two week free trial using their own phone just to try the service for free for a couple of weeks and see if they can answer the question for themselves: is there a catch? And the good news is we’re continuing to bring in new members, convert new members, and really answer that question. So much of the value in our service is that we’re not charging consumers to build stores all over the country or staff 1-800 numbers or bundle in things that you may or may not want and passing those charges along to the consumer.
We really thought that this eSIM technology and giving our potential members the opportunity to try it for free would be a great way to show them the value that you get and the quality of service with Visible, with no risk.
Visible has a new campaign running with Match Group, in which the two brands launched a Singles Registry in time for wedding season. Can you tell us about it and what the strategy and goals are for the campaign?
Wireless service and wireless plans are built on this philosophy that everyone has a family. Everybody is bringing a bunch of lines together as a family and that’s the way you unlock the value. We think that’s unfair. There’s so many definitions of what a family is, there’s so many unique experiences, where people may just simply need a single line. Why should they be penalized with a single tax for needing or wanting a single line of service? A lot of what is built up in society celebrates non-singles. But how about for people who just want to be single? How many bridesmaids dresses have you bought? How many baby gifts have you bought? How many bachelor parties have you gone to? But if you’re the single friend in the group, you probably have not gotten any of those parties thrown for you. So we wanted to make sure that singles were being celebrated and had the opportunity to create a registry with the Match Group to do that properly.
On our registry, singles can register for everything from a single moon vacation, things for their pets, “Mine” and “Also Mine” they could sign up for towel sets, whatever they might want. They are also able to share it it with their friends and family and have the opportunity to either ask for those gifts they might have always wanted or provide a donation to the charitable organization Girls Who Code, if they didn’t want to ask their friends and family for a gift. The idea ultimately came from the insight that being single the world is sort of set up for couples and pairs and groups, so we wanted to make sure with that we were celebrating singles and giving them an opportunity to have the same experience or maybe close to the same experience that some of their partnered up friends and family have had.
Can you talk about the brand’s mission to make wireless simple and accessible to everyone and how that shows up in messaging?
Our mission is to be simple and accessible to everyone and we think about that in everything we do. We try to eliminate any of the stuff that isn’t required to be a part of the plan. Most people who are getting things bundled into their phone service, don’t even really want it or care about it. But ultimately, they’re actually paying for it. So keeping it simple, keeping it accessible. You can reach out to us any time of day or night. You don’t have to leave your couch to sign up for phone service. The thought of having to sit on the phone for who knows how long and or going and fighting traffic, fighting parking, getting into a store and waiting in line to get my phone service is just not how I want to spend my time. We really filter not only what we do in terms of the plan and product development, but also our marketing through this idea of simple and accessible.
Are there any channels where the brand is investing in more now vs. pre-pandemic?
We are absolutely leaning into digital and certainly are digital first. We also consider word-of-mouth really important. We are looking at the channels and tactics to help fuel word-of-mouth. So social is certainly an important place for us to show up, as well as different partnerships with different publishers and companies that do service reviews is important.
When it comes to video we’re leaning into streaming quite a bit. I think that people who are comfortable with digital media, and for example, streaming are probably going to be really comfortable with signing up for a phone service on their couch on their laptop or their mobile device.
What are you most excited about for the remainder of 2022?
I’m most excited about our opportunity to continue really focusing on what we refer to as our value proposition to more people. More people need to understand and know what Visible is all about. We’re going to be focused on that for the remainder of the year, really showcasing that Visible is a great wireless service. It’s powered by Verizon, it’s simple. It’s really accessible. It gives you everything you need, and is available to you with ease. You don’t have to sign contracts, go into stores or deal with 1-800 numbers –all the old models that exist. I’m really excited about the work we’re developing for the latter half of the year that is going to talk more about that so we can reach more people.
