TECH

Zing! Sprint opens 'Twice the Price' store next to Verizon retailer

Madeline Purdue

USA TODAY

Sprint opened a pop-up store next to a Verizon retailer to compete directly with the cell phone provider.

The advertising war between the cell phone carriers is hitting the pavement, and once again, Sprint is taking on Verizon.

Sprint opened a "Twice the Price" store on Friday next to a Verizon Wireless retail store in Queens, NY, and is listing a variety of items including chips, water bottles, paper towels at twice their regular price. These products, however, aren't actually for sale.

The company is instead using the store as a showcase for its wireless plans, trying to illustrate the difference in price between it and Verizon. Sprint will have representatives in the store to talk to customers about its unlimited data plan and why they should switch from Verizon to Sprint.

Sprint's reasoning for going after Verizon in particular, as opposed to other rivals including AT&T and T-Mobile, is simple.

"Verizon is number one," said Tracy Palmer, vice president of branding and advertising at Sprint.

Sprint plans to use footage from the store for an ad campaign, although representatives from the company declined to say when consumers will start seeing these ads. Currently, the store is planned to only be open for the day in New York, but the company is leaving open the possibility for other "Twice the Price" stores to pop up around the country.

"We're always looking for ways to get customers to switch to Sprint," said Dave Tovar, Sprint's vice president of corporate communications.

With this campaign, Sprint is highlighting its unlimited data plan offer — four lines of unlimited data for $90 per month — which is available until the end of July. Verizon, by comparison, charges $180 per month for four lines. Both plans exclude taxes and fees.

The marketing ploy is the latest aggressive campaign from Sprint. Just over a year ago, Sprint hired actor Paul Marcarelli, whose famous catchphrase "Can you hear me now?" ran with Verizon advertisements for nine years. Marcarelli now uses the same catchphrase in Sprint commercials.

Last month the company went so far as to offer free unlimited service for one year to those willing to ditch Verizon.

Unlimited data plans have been the central focus of the recent war between cell phone carriers. In February, the four major carriers — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint— went to battle to see which could offer unlimited data plans at the lowest price.

Follow USA Today's Madeline Purdue on Twitter, @madelinepurdue.