UPDATE: This article has been updated with a response from Verizon.
T-Mobile is taking its trolling game to a new level.
Proving that there’s really no type of shade like telecoms industry quarterly earnings shade, T-Mobile launched a sardonic shot against the bow of its largest rival this week by inventing a drinking game poking fun at Verizon’s (VZ) so-called “boring” earnings call.
T-Mobile (TMUS)—currently the third-largest mobile carrier in the U.S., behind Verizon and AT&T (T)—on Wednesday unveiled its “Verizon Earnings Call Drinking Game,” which encouraged anyone who tuned in for the company’s quarterly investors webcast to take a drink of “your beverage of choice” anytime Verizon executives mentioned words like “millennials” or “the young people.”
Also worthy of a drink in T-Mobile’s estimation would have been a Verizon executive referencing “year-old network tests (without a hint of shame),” according to rules for the game posted on T-Mobile’s website. Meanwhile, the game encouraged listeners—who, as with most earnings calls, were likely mostly industry analysts and bleary-eyed journalists—to take “two drinks” anytime Verizon mentioned the practice of “‘monetizing’ something or someone.” In the unlikely event that Verizon would “[admit] its network advantage is gone and it’s grasping at straws,” T-Mobile’s game instructed players to finish their entire drink.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere has proven time and time again that he is definitely not above taking public shots at his company’s biggest rivals, having openly mocked Verizon’s recent logo update and even hiring a skywriting plane to post the message “#AbolishOverages” high above Verizon headquarters in Basking Ridge, N.J. Also on Thursday, T-Mobile went after a recent Verizon television ad by releasing its own version of the TV spot featuring several pop-up windows contradicting some of Verizon’s claims in the original ad while touting T-Mobile’s own offerings.
The call in question began at 8:30 a.m. EST this morning, but it remains to be seen how many (if any) fans of T-Mobile’s social strategy threw back any shots when Verizon executives discussed the recent acquisition of ad technology company Millennial Media by Verizon subsidiary AOL.
As for Verizon’s earnings, the company beat Wall Street’s estimates with a 3.2% bump in fourth-quarter revenue that sent the company’s stock up slightly in early trading.
In an email to Coins2Day, Verizon spokesman Bob Varettoni the company is “happy if T-Mobile encouraged more people to take an interest in joining the call.”