AT&T: Lilly
Two of the defining characteristics of the AT&T business are the volume and velocity of the work we produce for the consumer business. A lot of this work is highly promotional in nature and focussed on plans and new device launches. Many of these messages aren't that different to the messages our competitors are putting out in the market, so it is critical that we develop an instantly recognizable creative vehicle and a distinctive tone of voice that drives strong brand linkage.
I would like to say that the birth of Lilly, the now famous "girl in the AT&T store", was a well planned event. It wasn't. She was a one off execution that exceeded all of our expectations. When we viewed the film, we all thought she had a great personality and a tone that was in keeping with the AT&T brand - positive, optimistic and friendly.
Lilly evolved into a campaign on the back of the Mobile Share Family Plan launch in January 2015. I remember it vividly. We were at CES and it was a chilly Wednesday morning, in an over air conditioned hotel meeting room in Vegas. AT&T had just told us that they were going to launch a new wireless plan, targeted to families, that was going to shake up the market. The exact details of the plan weren't locked, but they wanted work on air within 10 days.
What to do, with not a lot of time and with a relatively sketchy view of the new plan? Well, we liked Lilly, the set for the AT&T store still existed in a storage facility somewhere in LA and we knew we had a plan that was targeted to families. We started casting for families and rebuilding the set, whilst furiously writing scripts. We sold three scripts by the following Monday and went straight into production. We were on air within the requisite time.
The new films built on the tone of the earlier work, but it had the added ingredient of helpfulness. Lilly provided customers with simple, helpful advice that enabled customers to get the most out of their wireless company. At the time, our competitors were talking about the cost per individual line and the number of gigs, but Lilly talked about our new plan in far more relatable terms: Four lines, 10 gigs for $160. This was a currency that our customers could easily compare to their monthly bill.
I don't think any of us ever thought that the campaign would run for over three years, we would go on to make 40+ spots and create innumerable social media posts in Lilly's voice. It far exceeded our wildest expectations as a retail campaign. Lilly was described by Ad Age as "advertising's new IT girl" and she was recently included in Adweek's Top 100 most creative people in advertising. High praise indeed for a retail campaign.
See articles here:
Out of tiny acorns.............