AT&T, the nation’s second largest advertiser, introduced a new ad campaign focused on the “your thing” slogan and seeking to tie together the company’s various telecommuting and entertainment offerings.
“AT&T gives you more for your thing,” the company’s first major ad from the campaign intones. “More entertainment, Internet and unlimited plans. More for your thing. Yeah, that’s our thing.”
Importantly, as noted by Marketing Daily, the campaign essentially replaces a number of AT&T’s recent campaigns and slogans, including its recent DirecTV ads, its ads with Mark Wahlberg, and its “mobilizing your world” campaign.
“This is the first time we’ll have work [for] AT&T and DirecTV that will share connective tissue in ways that we’ve never done before,” Marc Burns, AT&T’s VP of advertising and social media, told Marketing Daily. He said the campaign combines all of AT&T’s offerings, including wireless, satellite TV and internet services. “Strategically, we’ve figured out this is the right way for us to operate.”
“It’s a pivot where we’re putting consumers first in what we do,” added Burns. “What we do is somewhat intangible, and this is us showing how we enable the things you love.”
The discontinuation of AT&T’s Mark Wahlberg campaign is notable. That deal was worth a reported $10 million and focused on AT&T’s entertainment offerings across screens.
The timing of AT&T’s new “your thing” campaign is also significant; the company opted to sit on the sidelines during the Super Bowl, paving the way for rivals Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint to all tout their respective offerings in high-profile commercials. Verizon even used the Super Bowl to obliquely challenge AT&T’s pursuit of the public-safety market through its FirstNet agreement.
But AT&T will likely push the campaign during the Winter Olympics, which started this weekend and run through Feb. 25.
AT&T’s focus on its entertainment offerings—specifically HBO content like “Game of Thrones” and “Westworld—in its new campaign is surprising given that AT&T is facing opposition from the Department of Justice in its attempts to purchase HBO parent Time Warner. AT&T’s management has signaled the company’s plans to go to court to close its proposed purchase of Time Warner.
Nonetheless, AT&T’s new ad campaign is important simply for the company’s position in the market. AT&T is the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier with around 140 million customers, as well as the nation’s second-largest advertising company, having spent roughly $3.3 billion last year according to numbers from AdAge.