Why the “Can You Hear Me Now?” Guy Switched to Sprint

Paul Marcarelli used to work for Verizon as the “Can You Hear Me Now” guy. But in this ad, he switch to Sprint, and wants to convince viewers to do the same—since you can pretty much hear him now, no matter which wireless carrier you’ve chosen. This statement is backed up by a Neilsen study that notes Sprint’s reliability is now within one percent of Verizon. His tone is definitely a bit snarky in the Sprint spot, which aired during the NBA Finals and continued to air on cable and broadcast TV.

Marcarelli’s switch and snarky tone should come as no surprise to those that know his backstory at Verizon. He worked at Verizon for ten years as the “Can You Hear Me Now?” guy, but the contract he signed with the company limited him creatively and financially. And they fired him via email. Um, what? So the Paul you see in the Deutsch spot is not so much an actor as a real human with a personal vendetta against Verizon and a staunch belief that most wireless networks provide virtually the same amount of coverage. The real Paul echos commercial Paul by saying, “Sprint is by far the best choice for consumers. You get a highly reliable network and save 50 percent off most of the rates other national wireless carriers charge.”

Can you hear that?