Total by Verizon's Totalmente campaign by Ogilvy brought a Spanish-language merengue parody to Super Bowl LVIII, marking the sub-brand's first ever Big Game
ARCHIVEHow Total by Verizon Made the Super Bowl Dance to Totalmente
Total by Verizon's Totalmente campaign is a 30-second Spanish-language commercial that aired during Univision's broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, transforming the 1998 merengue hit Suavemente by Elvis Crespo into a comedic anthem about the benefits of a prepaid no-contract wireless plan, created by Ogilvy and directed by Fred Armisen.
Total by Verizon is a prepaid, no-contract wireless sub-brand operating under the Verizon umbrella in the United States. The Totalmente campaign marked the brand's first appearance in Super Bowl advertising, a milestone confirmed by reporting from ogilvy.com and marketingdive.com. Rather than competing on the technical network-performance terrain traditionally occupied by Verizon's masterbrand, Total by Verizon staked its Big Game debut on cultural warmth, humor, and the shared memory of a beloved Latin music moment. The strategic logic is clear: reach Latino households through Univision's Spanish-language Super Bowl telecast — a broadcast that places the brand directly inside a culturally specific viewing experience rather than the broader English-language NFL audience.
The campaign's mechanics extended well beyond a single television placement. Per ogilvy.com, the campaign included an extended music-video cut of Totalmente, post-game activity on TikTok, a branded Instagram filter, and influencer-led dance participation — a multi-platform architecture designed to sustain cultural conversation after the final whistle. Cheryl Gresham, VP and CMO of the Verizon Value organization, framed the ambition directly: Total by Verizon has a lot to offer consumers, and the Big Game represented an opportunity to step into target customers' homes. In the United States, where the Super Bowl routinely commands the largest single television audience of the year, that logic carries real weight. The Clapboard Ad Archive rates Totalmente 78 out of 100 and classifies it under the Parody or Borrowed Format creative category.
ARCHIVETotal by Verizon positioned Totalmente explicitly toward Latino consumers in the United States. The decision to air the spot on Univision's Spanish-language telecast of Super Bowl LVIII rather than the English-language CBS broadcast was not incidental — it was the strategic core of the entire campaign. By selecting a culturally specific broadcast environment, the brand signalled that it was speaking to, not merely at, a Latino audience.
The prepaid and no-contract wireless segment in the United States is intensely competitive. Brands including Cricket Wireless, a subsidiary of AT&T, and Boost Mobile, owned by Dish Network, actively court value-oriented and prepaid consumers, many of whom are drawn from multicultural demographics. Total by Verizon entered this competitive field with a creative asset — the Suavemente parody — designed to generate affinity rather than simply announce price advantages. As reported by marketingdive.com, the campaign represented a deliberate cultural play, using nostalgia for a Spanish-language musical standard to build brand warmth in a segment where emotional connection is a genuine differentiator.
The choice of Suavemente as the creative vehicle was grounded in real cultural currency. Elvis Crespo's 1998 merengue track achieved widespread crossover popularity across Latin America and among Latino communities in the United States, making it a shared reference point with genuine emotional resonance rather than a niche selection. Ogilvy's creative strategy, as described by ogilvy.com, involved borrowing the Y2K aesthetic and music-video visual language of the original to signal authenticity to an audience that would recognise every callback. In the United States, where Latino purchasing power represents a substantial and growing force in consumer markets, that decision to meet an audience inside their own cultural memory rather than translating a generic brand message carries measurable strategic weight.
Fred Armisen directed the Totalmente spot. Armisen, known across the United States and internationally as a comedian, musician, and producer — most prominently through Saturday Night Live and Portlandia — brought a specific set of skills to the production: an instinct for musical parody, an understanding of comedic timing, and credibility as a creator who operates fluidly across performance and direction. His involvement was itself a creative statement, confirming that the campaign intended to function as genuine entertainment rather than conventional advertising dressed in cultural clothing.
The commercial opens with a Latino couple on a dinner date, played by Enrique Dueñas and Betzaida Landín. When Landín's character laments she no longer knows how to communicate with her partner, Dueñas responds that the solution is straightforward since switching to Total by Verizon — and immediately launches into a full merengue performance of Totalmente. The spot deliberately reconstructs visual references from the original Suavemente music video, as confirmed by ogilvy.com, giving audiences who know the source material a layered experience that rewards recognition. The production achieves something technically precise: it must read as parody to those familiar with the original while remaining legible as a brand message to those encountering it cold.
Arturo Castro appears as a waiter in a cameo role, adding a second layer of comedic energy to the scene. Castro, speaking to the campaign as reported by Little Black Book, described fighting the urge to break out into song at every meal and praised Armisen as one of the best to ever do it. Castro's presence functions as more than celebrity endorsement — his identity as a Guatemalan-American actor with strong recognition among US Latino audiences extends the campaign's cultural credibility. The extended music-video version of the spot amplifies all of these creative choices, giving the parody format room to fully inhabit the aesthetic it references. Production credits beyond the director, cast, and agency have not been publicly documented in available sources.
No verified performance data for the Totalmente campaign is publicly available. Ogilvy and Total by Verizon have not released figures for view counts, store traffic, subscription growth, or social engagement metrics attributable to the campaign in any source available at the time of writing. What can be assessed is the structural effectiveness of the campaign's design decisions.
Totalmente achieved several measurable structural goals independent of disclosed metrics. It secured Total by Verizon's first appearance in Super Bowl advertising, a milestone that by definition generates press coverage and industry attention — both of which arrived, as documented by marketingdive.com and ogilvy.com. The decision to air on Univision's Spanish-language broadcast positioned the brand with precision against a defined audience rather than diffusing spend across the broader English-language Super Bowl viewership. The multi-platform extension — including TikTok activation, an Instagram filter, and influencer participation as described by ogilvy.com — was engineered to extend the campaign's lifespan beyond a single 30-second airdate, a standard indicator of strategic maturity in modern brand campaigns.
The parody format itself carries inherent shareability. Music-based parody advertising, particularly one anchored in a culturally recognised track like Suavemente, generates organic amplification when it lands correctly with its target audience. The Clapboard Ad Archive rates Totalmente 78 out of 100, reflecting a campaign that executes its creative concept with clarity and cultural specificity, even in the absence of disclosed performance benchmarks. In the United States prepaid wireless market, where differentiation on price alone is structurally difficult, the brand equity built through a campaign of this visibility represents a form of impact that extends beyond any single quarter's metrics.
Totalmente is a 30-second Spanish-language commercial created by Ogilvy for Total by Verizon. It parodies the 1998 merengue hit Suavemente by Elvis Crespo, rewriting the lyrics to celebrate prepaid wireless plan benefits. Directed by Fred Armisen, it aired on Univision during Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, marking the brand's first Big Game appearance.
Fred Armisen directed the Totalmente spot for Total by Verizon. Armisen is a comedian, musician, and producer widely recognised in the United States for his work on Saturday Night Live and Portlandia. His background in musical parody made him a creatively precise choice for a campaign built around reimagining a beloved Latin music standard.
Arturo Castro is a Guatemalan-American actor who appeared as a waiter in a cameo role in the Totalmente spot. His presence added a second layer of comedic energy and deepened the campaign's cultural credibility with US Latino audiences. Castro described working with Fred Armisen as a pleasure, calling him one of the best to ever do it, as reported by lbbonline.com.
Total by Verizon chose Univision's Spanish-language Super Bowl LVIII broadcast to reach Latino consumers in the United States with precision. The placement aligned with the campaign's cultural strategy — a merengue parody of Suavemente — ensuring the ad landed in a viewing environment where its references and humour would carry the strongest resonance with the intended audience.
Totalmente parodies Suavemente, the 1998 merengue hit by Elvis Crespo. The song was chosen for its deep cultural familiarity among Latino audiences across Latin America and in the United States. Ogilvy reframed the romantic lyrics as a celebration of Total by Verizon plan benefits, while recreating the visual aesthetic of the original music video to reward audience recognition.
The Clapboard Ad Archive rated Totalmente 78 out of 100 and classified it under the Parody or Borrowed Format creative category. The score reflects a campaign that executes its cultural and comedic concept with clarity and specificity. No independently verified performance metrics for the campaign have been publicly released by Total by Verizon or Ogilvy at the time of writing.
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