Verizon Wireless used “Can You Hear Me Now?” as the central line of its national advertising campaign beginning in 2002.
Actor Paul Marcarelli played a bespectacled technician who walked through different locations while testing the network and repeating the question. The commercials turned a practical concern—dropped or unreliable calls—into a simple, repeatable brand message.
The campaign was created for Verizon by McCann Erickson. Its success helped Verizon distinguish itself in a competitive wireless market by focusing on network coverage rather than only on handset features or pricing.
Marcarelli became strongly identified with Verizon through the role, but he later appeared in advertising for Sprint after leaving the company. That later work is sometimes mistakenly treated as part of the original Verizon campaign.