BBDO NY and Joe Montana Stay Strong for AT&T

In a campaign scheduled to culminate with tonight’s first-ever College Football Championship, BBDO New York focuses on a single fact for client AT&T: the provider offers customers “the nation’s strongest LTE signal.”

This is not a new claim from AT&T, which began promoting the superiority of its LTE systems over a year ago and now states that its LTE “footprint” is larger than all of its competitors’.

But the “strength” concept did allow the agency to riff on a theme with the help of four retired football legends. In the first spot, “Mental Strength,” Herschel Walker pulls a Jedi mind trick on Doug Flutie:

The second spot rearranges the group to put another veteran in the hot seat.

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Bud Light Could Turn Your Town into ‘Whatever, USA’

We last encountered the #UpForWhatever tag in Bud Light’s spoof of the viral Mullen “World’s Toughest Job” ad (SPOILER: it was being a mom). That work came from Boston shop Relevant 24, but the newest sort-of-related spot comes to our inbox via BBDO’s Chicago and New York offices.

Here’s “Surprise Guest”:

You may notice that the spot is something of a tease: it’s only the latest in a series…

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BBDO, AT&T Debut ‘Pet Turkey’ for ‘It’s Not Complicated’

BBDO’s “It’s Not Complicated”series for AT&T has been one of the most recognizable campaigns on television for a while now, offering up different variations on the “kids saying cute, funny things in a classroom discussion” theme with straight man Beck Bennett. Indeed, the campaign has been so ubiquitous and well-received that it basically landed him a spot on SNL.

The agency’s latest, Thanksgiving-themed “Pet Turkey,” while enjoyable, is not the greatest effort in the series. If you’re a fan of the approach, you’ll probably enjoy this new one; if you’re getting tired of this direction, chances are it won’t do anything to dissuade you.

“Pet Turkey” sees Bennett asking the group of kids, “What’s better on Thanksgiving?” When one boy suggests, “a pet turkey,” Bennett offers his rational take on that answer. Again, nothing new here, just more of the same approach from BBDO. Since this brand of cute funny has worked so well for them in the past, it’s understandable that they don’t see the need to change things up. But something about “Pet Turkey” makes it feel like BBDO is treading water, like the approach is finally losing steam and they need to inject “It’s Not Complicated” with some fresh ideas if they want to prolong its shelf life. Although with Bennett’s star on the rise, the campaign’s days may already be numbered.

“Pet Turkey” will debut this Sunday, November 24th and will run throughout the Thanksgiving holiday season. Credits after the jump. continued…

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AT&T Taps More Kids for Youthful Publicity, Adds Mother’s Day Theme to ‘It’s Not Complicated’

Let’s kill two birds, shall we? AT&T must really like little kids. First, we had the Beck Bennett commercials that ran incessantly during March Madness (and still run; check out the newest Mother’s Day-themed “It’s Not Complicated” clip from BBDO after the jump). Now, the telecom giant seems to think we want more, more, more. The latest work from Dallas-based multicultural agency Sanders\Wingo shows young’ns on their mobile devices, saying things like, “In my day…our connection was so slow, we had to take turns online.”

Some viewers may find this cute, others may find it scary, but as kids become more and more comfortable with the latest technology, these types of spots should become the norm. We already have videos of babies who can swipe a page on an iPad, but can’t turn the page in a book or magazine. Regardless, kids will always have to eat the trope-filled Brussels sprout before they get to use any of these devices, and that’s how we get the thirty-second “Veggies.”

Check out the second spot, “Haircut,” the aforementioned “It’s Not Complicated” Mother’s Day effort and credits for all after the jump.

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