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AT&T Launches Largest Campaign Ever

AT&T will launch a new ad campaign Monday, geared to absorb Cingular Wireless into the AT&T brand.

About 2,000 company-owned wireless retail outlets will begin to adopt AT&T branded signage, and 15,000 store employees will begin wearing uniforms which will include the AT&T brand, writes Adweek. POP kiosks will also adopt AT&T-branded signage

Television spots will include both the AT&T and Cingular logo. They include the imagery and phrases - such as “raising the bar” and the “Jack” character - from Cingular’s ads and attempt to integrate them into the AT&T brand.

The campaign is a joint effort of AT&T’s lead agency GSD&M, along with its b-to-b shop, Rodgers/Townsend and Cingular’s agency, BBDO.

Hispanic advertising for the campaign is being handled by Dieste Harmel & Partners, and African American based ads are being created by Sandor/Wingo.

AT&T has said it will “honor” Cingular’s ties to BBDO, but that it will evaluate the needs of the business “and structure our agency relationships accordingly.”

AT&T will also be launching a campaign to rebrand BellSouth as AT&T. AT&T acquired BellSouth for $80 billion in December - the largest telecommunications merger in U.S. history. Cingular, which was a joint property of AT&T and BellSouth, now belongs exclusively to AT&T.

AT&T’s 2007 campaigns comprise the company’s largest ever marketing effort.

Total adspend for the campaign has not been disclosed, but an AT&T representative has said that the campaign will surpass the cost of rebranding SBC Communications as AT&T in 2006.

AT&T spent $1.7 billion on advertising in 2005, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Cingular spent $1.3 billion in 2005, while BellSouth spent $130 million.

The company believes 20 percent of its cost savings generated by the BellSouth merger will be from advertising efficiencies.