BEDMINSTER, N.J. -- With the Olympic Games as its world stage, AT&T will showcase the momentum that its brand continues to gain since it put a stake in the ground as "The world's networking company (SM)" earlier this year. AT&T's ad campaign during the games will reaffirm its leadership role in delivering complex networking solutions as well as emerging internet-based technologies that benefit both businesses and consumers.
The ads are the latest evidence of AT&T's brand evolution, building on the success of a $200 million advertising program that was launched in February.
Television, print and online audiences will see multiple ads that spotlight AT&T's unrivaled network security services for businesses as well as its groundbreaking AT&T CallVantage (SM) Service, the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service that has rolled out in more than 100 U.S. markets and is currently in global trials. AT&T will unveil the latest spots on Friday, August 13 during opening ceremonies. They will appear on the Networks of NBC, including NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo and USA Network.
"These exciting new ads are an important part of AT&T's transformation from a phone company to a technology leader. That's what `The world's networking company' campaign is all about," said Connie Weaver, executive vice president of Public Relations, Marketing and Brand. "By continuing the momentum of AT&T's campaign earlier this year, these new ads further distance AT&T from rivals in delivering complex networking services and technologies that businesses and consumers need and want."
In addition, following AT&T's recent decision to focus on extending its lead in the enterprise market and to blaze new trails with emerging technologies, such as VoIP, the new ads ensure that AT&T's corporate strategy and brand image are more tightly aligned than ever, Weaver added. "`The world's networking company' campaign inexorably links the brand to who we really are and what we do better than anyone else," Weaver said. "The ability to have that kind of clarity in the marketplace has liberated one of the world's strongest brands so it can scale even greater heights."
Throughout the ad campaign, AT&T reinforces the attributes -- such as reach, technology and innovation -- that set it apart from competitors.
One big campaign component centers on security and the importance of detecting, isolating and eliminating threats to a business' network before threats become security breaches. The newest ad, "Troy," continues "The world's networking company" theme, asking business and government customers: Can Your Network Do This?
The security services featured in "Troy," starring a meddlesome, talking Trojan horse, are just one reason that AT&T is unrivaled in the enterprise market, where the company generates 75% of its revenue. For example, NBC turned to AT&T to transmit more than 1,200 hours of Olympic Games coverage, the most extensive in history. AT&T is designing, deploying and managing six different paths -- both satellite and terrestrial -- to ensure reliability and quality.
AT&T, which serves more than 3 million global business customers in 149 countries, earlier this year was rated first for global network services overall in the Yankee Group's Global Network Strategies Survey of more than 1,000 multinational companies worldwide, scoring highest in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. AT&T's global IP network delivers complex networking services that help customers boost productivity, cut costs and grow revenue.
Four other unique ads focus on AT&T CallVantage Service, an innovative broadband phone service that allows consumers to talk over high-speed Internet connections instead of traditional circuit-switched phone networks. As the ads point out, this is the reinvention of the phone from the people that did it the first time.
In the AT&T CallVantage ads, inventors from AT&T Labs, the company's world-class research arm, talk about how they used experiences from their own personal lives to develop the radical technology and industry-leading features behind the service. Gregory Bond, Karrie Hanson and Gerald Karam describe how features such as Do Not Disturb, Personal Conferencing and Locate Me can simplify a daily work or home routine.
In one spot, Locate Me becomes a big help one Saturday afternoon for a couple desperately anticipating a return call from a potential babysitter. Another spot shows that Personal Conferencing is so easy that a seventh grade daughter learned it instantly to organize a neighborhood pick-up game of street hockey.
"There's no better way to explain the convenience, simplicity and value of AT&T CallVantage Service than through the personal accounts of the people who created it," said Cathy Martine, AT&T senior vice president of Internet Telephony. "These real-life situations sparked the creativity and innovation of the applications in use today and those on the drawing board for tomorrow."
In addition to the new AT&T CallVantage ad campaign, AT&T also intends to expand its paths to market via targeted co-marketing, distributor and retail/e-tail partner agreements.
AT&T CallVantage, which rolled out to 100 markets in just four months, is a shining example of the innovation AT&T routinely achieves through in-house research as well as partnerships with top technology vendors, Martine added. "AT&T CallVantage shows just how quickly AT&T can take an innovative idea to market in a big way while guaranteeing the reliability and quality that customers expect from our rich heritage and trusted brand," Martine added. To learn more about AT&T CallVantage Service, visit: www.usa.att.com/callvantage.
AT&T is a Proud Telecommunications Services Sponsor of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team.
To view the company's latest ads, link to: www.att.com/presskit/worldsnetcom.
About AT&T
For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.
