by Tanya Gazdik , February 23, 2012

Verizon is targeting what it calls “trend-setting young professionals” who live in apartments and condominiums in four major markets via a hyperlocal FiOS campaign.

This demographic place a premium on technology to get ahead at work, while staying connected with friends, according to the company.

The multimedia effort was tested in a metro-Washington D.C. pilot last fall and is now being rolled out in the New York, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.

Many of the hyperlocal campaign elements used during the pilot -- including immersive digital advertising combined with social media engagement, plus a concentrated presence of out-of-home advertising and local events with prospective customers -- will be repeated in the broader campaign. Gyms, restaurants, bars, movie theatres, malls and transit centers are target venues.

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In Washington, Verizon introduced the “FiOS 50,” a first-of-its-kind for Verizon list of the 50 hottest, hippest, must visit places to go in the D.C. Metro area. Participants received exclusive FiOS offers when they linked to www.verizon.com and special discounts when they mention FiOS at the FiOS50 hot spots. Participants who passed the FiOS 50 link onto family and friends also were rewarded.

Most 25- to 39-year-olds who make up a significant portion of multidwelling unit tenants are major users of social media and the Internet and spend as much as 14 hours online per week, said Pedro Correa, vice president of Verizon Enhanced Communities, a unit within Verizon focused on marketing the company's FiOS voice, high-speed Internet and TV services to tenants and property managers of multidwelling unit properties.

"Some people think they have to live in a single family home to get the very best broadband and video entertainment services, but that's not true," he said in a release.

To assist young professionals in finding MDUs with FiOS, Verizon has created a region-specific microsite at www.musthavefios.com that shows the MDUs where FiOS is available in metro New York, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. (The rest of the country is directed to the main Verizon FiOS website as they attempt to go to the URL.)

Verizon FiOS are available to more than 2 million multifamily units, and growing in parts of 12 states, and the District of Columbia. About half of all Verizon's FiOS lines opened for sale this year will be in apartments and condos.

The trial campaign in the Washington metro revealed that the trendsetting, "techknowledgeables" bear some unique attributes, according to Verizon research. Forty-five percent are more likely than the average adult to consider the Internet as their primary source of entertainment and 78% have seen a movie in the past six months.