MORE OF THE SAME
The AT&T brand is like Arnold the Terminator who just won't go quietly into the night.
As this New York Times story (via Techmeme) reminds us, Cingular is planning to re-brand itself under the AT&T brand on Monday:
"AT&T will not disclose the budget for the campaign, which will continue for five or six months — leading to the partnership with Apple on the new iPhone, scheduled for midyear.
A campaign last year to promote AT&T as the new brand name of SBC Communications cost an estimated $1 billion."
Remember that effort? If you don't, here's a little reminder, courtesy of YouTube:
I guess why that's why the phone companies need to raise their rates so often, as they're just in the process of doing again for SMS text messages. You've got to fund these billion dollar ad campaigns somehow.
So get set for more of the same over the coming months.
What's really interesting that AT&T has long promoted the vision of an interactive, world connected via devices. Here's a classic commercial from a campaign back in 1993 with the tag line "You Will"
Remember it?
Of course, they kept insisting at the end of everyone of those, that it'd be a world brought to you by AT&T.
Well, half right with a little help from a friend ain't half as bad, right?
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