Title Slide
Tai: Hey! It’s nice to meet you, my name is Tais and I am TEAM 693’s account
manager
Cha: I’m Chaman and I’m the video lead of the team
Simon: I’m Simon and I’m the creative director of the team
Vinson: I’m Vinson and I’m the copywriter of the team
Tai: And we’re proud to present to you the “Unsung Heroes” campaign we’ve
been working on for the past 2 semesters, so without further ado…
Overview
Simon: Here is an overview of everything we’re going over in this presentation
Tai: Our main goals for this campaign are to raise AT&T’s market share and
social media impressions as well as changing the perception of AT&T from “just
another bill to pay” to being “the brand you can rely on to augment your future”
Simon: Keep these goals in mind as we proceed, starting with our methodology…
Methodology
Cha: Aside from general immersion in AT&T’s brand, the bulk of our research was
done in the form of focus groups, in-depth interviews, a quantitative survey and
general MRI-Simmons research; this was what provided us with our most
compelling insights that we used to guide our campaign’s creative and strategic
direction.
The Problem
Vinson: To put things into perspective, AT&T is stuck between a rock and a hard
place. The telecommunications industry is incredibly saturated as you can see in
this graph below, which shows the industry at a point of peak maturity.
Furthermore, most people don’t know how to delineate phone providers from
one another, especially when it comes to the big three.
Tai: This has led to competition being terribly stiff, which makes growing market
share an ostensibly daunting task for existing brands. For AT&T in particular,
we’ve noticed a downward trend in their market share, as seen in the above
graph, which shows an over 2% decrease in percentage points from 2023 to
2024.
Vinson: This, combined with industry saturation, points toward a state of
diminishing marginal utility in AT&T’s future.
Simon: To combat this, we are employing a year-long ad campaign with the
purpose of targeting Gen Z, those between the ages of 18 and 24, who don’t pay
for their phone plan specifically.
Personas
Cha: In order to compartmentalize our target audience, we’ve come up with 3
personas, each corresponding to a phase in our campaign.
Vinson: The Opportunist instantiates, well, opportunity. Here we have Jake, a 20
year old who, although having a supportive family, has had to work since he
was young to make ends meet. He also values family to the utmost degree and
has a predilection toward joining online giveaways because he “might-as-well,”
a sentiment that was echoed throughout our focus group participants.
Tai: The Social Butterfly represents the friend-focused consumer. 23 year old
Sarah is just about to metamorphosize into a full-fledged adult. She actively
seeks adventure in social events like raves and road trips, and her pursuit of
such activities has led her to have a large friend group that she relies on just as
much, if not more, than her family.
Cha: So much so that she’s on a “family plan” with her friends, but would love if
the payment process was more streamlined, an attitude that was shared
amongst both our focus group and interview participants.
Simon: The Utilitarian is all about ambition. 22 year old Émile is still in school but
has big aspirations for his career. He’s currently on his parents’ phone plan but is
thinking of transitioning off of it; he is also having difficulty finding a plan that
provides him with good features at a reasonable price.
Tai: These personas are meant to represent the different stages Gen Z goes
through as they come of age, a concept we will explain further right now.
The Big Idea
Vinson: The overarching concept behind our campaign is that it mirrors the
journey that Gen Z goes on during their transition to adulthood.
Cha: To further communicate this, we’ve injected the concept of the “unsung
hero” throughout our creative. The “unsung hero” refers to people who impact
your life in major ways, often without getting the credit they deserve. Think:
parents who work day in and day out to provide for their children, or friends
who are always there to help you out of a tough spot.
Vinson: We want to make AT&T stand out as the phone provider that can bolster
these connections with your “unsung heroes.”
Tai: We’ve also found that Gen Z, more so than other generations, values
ambition—as in, aspiring to get ahead—to a very high degree.
Vinson: And since our target audience does not currently pay for their own
phone plan, we think that giving Gen Z a clear choice to go with when they
eventually have to pay for their own provider will work hand-in-hand with their
propensity to value ambition.
Simon: We believe that using the concept of the “unsung hero” to leverage Gen
Z’s value of “ambition” will work wonders for ingraining our desired target
behavior in our target audience.
The Campaign (Phases)
Cha: As for the campaign itself, we’ve separated it into 3 different phases,
spread across the 12-month tenure of the full campaign.
Phase 1
Tai: In phase 1, we want to focus on the connection between child and parent.
This will be done by utilizing a Super Bowl ad that highlights this connection, as
well as a giveaway of phones and prepaid plans that will run concurrently with
the Super Bowl. All people will have to do to enter is take a picture of them
watching the game with their loved ones with the
#ConnectingChangesEverything.
Move attention to still creative, explain it
Phase 2
Vinson: For phase 2, we shift the focus to the connection between friends. We
have a video ad that spotlights a friend helping their buddy out of a rough spot,
and we also introduce a new service from AT&T: The Friends Plan!
Move attention to still creative, explain it
This plan will have all the same discounts as AT&T’s existing multi-line deals,
except every line will be responsible for their own payments. This will work as a
middle ground between having to pay for your own plan and being on a family
plan, further working into the overarching concept behind our campaign.
Phase 3
Simon: And to cap it all off, we have phase 3, which further leans into the
connection with friends, and ends with an optimistic look toward a fruitful
tomorrow.
Move attention to still creative, explain it
We would also like to showcase a video ad we curated for the sole purpose of
conveying this message.
Play Crestfallen video
Vinson: This ad—along with our others—is meant to show the value behind the
connections you have with your “unsung heroes,” leveraging the tagline
“Connecting Changes Everything” all the while.
Why it will work
Tai: We think that our creative gives our target audience ample reason to
believe that AT&T is a reliable phone provider.
Vinson: Phase 1 gives us an opportunity to go viral with our Super Bowl
giveaway, which will put eyes on AT&T, give us a proverbial 1-up, and breathe
new life into the brand. This phase focuses on familial connection to ease our
target audience into the bigger picture with a concept they’re already very
familiar with.
Cha: Our addition of the Friends Plan in Phase 2 gives our target audience a
vested interest in AT&T, especially at a point in their lives where they’re being
tacked on with more and more responsibility with each passing day. This phase
shows a transition not only from familial to amicable connection, but also from
adolescence to adulthood.
Tai: And in Phase 3, we put the power in Gen Z’s hands, allowing them to make
the choice to use AT&T. This phase also focuses on amicable connection, but
places a greater emphasis on the value that these connections with your
“unsung heroes” brings to one’s life.
Simon: And this is all wrapped neatly within our overarching concept, creating a
cohesive narrative that is sure to capture our target audience’s attention.
Influencer Campaigns
Cha: Onto our influencer campaigns, we will partner with several, but here are a
couple examples. One influencer we will work with in phase 2 is Charli D’Amelio.
Not only is she one of Gen Z’s most recognized influencers, but she also has a
high crossover appeal from lifestyle to tech.
Tai: She’ll be creating short-form content on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube,
costing us about $400k, and she’ll be able to showcase, to her 157 million
followers, connections between her family and friends, something that is
integral to this phase as it will draw a parallel between AT&T’s current multi-line
discounts and our new friends plan.
Vinson: We’ll partner with Emma Chamberlain in phase 3. She has 15 million
followers and is one of Gen Z’s most trusted influencers. She also has an
unfiltered, laid back style of content that aligns with AT&T’s creative direction.
Simon: She will also be on the same platforms as Charli, costing about $500k,
and will also be used to market the friends plan, but to a higher degree. Since
the third phase is all about the connection between friends, this will be
displayed thoroughly in this partnership.
Cha: These influencers will also align with each phase we’re placing them in.
Putting Charli in phase 2 will work with its split focus on friends & family while
Emma will work with phase 3’s intense concentration on friends alone.
Media Plan
Vinson: We’ve approached our spending with our phases in mind. For phase 1,
we want to concentrate on the Super Bowl ad as well as the phone giveaway to
meet our KPI of raising social media impressions by 100%
Cha: Our KPI for phase 2 is increasing brand consideration by 15%. To meet this
goal, we’re introducing not only the friends plan, but also several influencer
partnerships.
Tai: Last but not least, phase 3 has us leaning into over-the-top streaming ads to
the utmost degree. We’re also continuing influencer partnerships in this phase,
and this will be done to meet our KPI of increasing positive sentiment by 10%.
Simon: Onto our costs, social media will be $18 million, OTT will come out to
$17.5 million, influencer partnerships will total at $14 million and Google search
ads and the super bowl ad will be $7 million each. This brings us to an estimated
grand total of $63.5 million for the entire campaign.
Measurement & Optimization
Vinson: To measure OTT, we will look at our pre/mid-roll ads’ unique reach,
video completion rate and click through rate as well as traffic data such as
number of site visits. Optimization will come in the form of user targeted A/B
testing to meet the viewer during crucial points in their customer journey.
Cha: Our social media optimization will be the same as OTT. However, to
measure social media, we will look at likes, shares and comments as well as
share of voice to gauge organic content interactions.
Tai: For SEM measurement, we will look at click through rate, site visits and CPM.
And for optimization, we will use A/B testing with targeted ads, strategically
placing them based on keyword search data.
Conclusion
Vinson: To reiterate, the telecommunications industry has left AT&T with little
wiggle room to get ahead of its competitors, but that doesn’t mean doing so is
impossible.
Simon: With the “Unsung Heroes” campaign, we aim to raise AT&T’s market
share and social media impressions, providing the impetus for a complete shift
in Gen Z’s perception of the brand.
Tai: And although all of these things will undoubtedly expand AT&T’s presence
within the telecommunications industry, our campaign has the potential to
create a massive shift in phone provider marketing as a whole, with AT&T being
the veritable torchbearer of a new era.
Cha: The concept of “connection” doesn’t have to be confined to the domain of
technology, for it is not simply the connection between phone and cell tower
that AT&T ought to enhance, but also the connections between family, between
friends and between the present and future.
Vinson: All that being said, we think we’ve more than proven that we’re ready to
commence a paradigm shift of unfathomable proportions—all through the
power of connection. The only question left is: are you?
