At&T Just Ok Campaign
AT&T launched its “just OK” campaign and partnership with the March
Madness block party during the 2018 College Football Playoffs, claiming they
are the #1 network to beat. They took a unique approach to make their message
clear amongst viewers; by utilizing the word “ok” they made it known that their
service is far above the mediocracy of the word. Their commercials and media
use irreversible situations such as surgery and being tattooed to imply that no
one would knowingly choose an ok doctor or tattoo artist to perform any actions
on their body and the same should apply to cellular service. Not all scenarios
are as extreme, some take a more lighthearted and witty approach to convey
their message. One of their more lighthearted approaches was when AT&T used
a series of basketball commentators to casually show the importance of more
than just ok commentators. These commercials bring a funny perspective to why
their service is better than their competitors. Despite this success, there is
confusion when it comes to the alignment of the block party. There is no
cohesiveness or clear meaning to why AT&T would sponsor March Madness. The
objectives of this campaign to say the least is very unclear. It is unknown as
to the reasoning behind a cellular service sponsoring a basketball competition
which is directly linked with their media usage, or lack thereof. Apart from
the televised commercials, AT&T has put little to no effort into their
media presence. Although they could have put more effort into their advertisements,
AT&T’s revenue increased by 2.4% which is above the national inflation rate
of 1.75% proving they were able to convert some cellular service users to their
brand.
One of the biggest, if not the biggest issue with the “Just OK is Not OK”
campaign and the block party is the objectives are unclear, nor are they
connected. The objective for the “Just OK is Not OK” campaign is to convert
customers over to AT&T by subtly showing they are bigger and better than
their competitors saying they aren’t the bad tattoo artist or uncertified
surgeon but are more than that. This objective aligns with AT&T’s brand,
but it does not align with their objective in the Block Party. AT&T put its
name on the Block Party but failed to do any marketing that would build awareness
for the event to increase ticket sales pre-event, nor did they have a clear
objective. This was shown through their lack of mentioning who was performing
or what would be happening at the event. There was only one picture posted a
day before. It was difficult to decide what AT&T was hoping to accomplish
during their campaign because there was little to no marketing done for the
event. We concluded the only objective AT&T could have with their Block
Party is to create brand awareness. This decision is confusing because AT&T
is already a well-known company. Not only would the decision to simply sponsor
an event for brand awareness not make a ton of sense but it also does not align
with the other campaigns they were running at that time.
AT&T would greatly benefit from aligning their campaign objectives.
In the days following the AT&T Block Party, Coca-Cola and Capital One both
host similar events. AT&T could easily promote the “Just OK is Not OK”
campaign through its March Madness Block Party event by simply putting on a
bigger and better show than Capital One and Coca-Cola. This would prove they
are indeed the biggest and the best in all aspects and it would be easier for
consumers to make that connection. AT&T has the best Block Party perfectly
connects its message of being the best with the March Madness Final Four. This
would illustrate the reasons customers should convert to AT&T while also
aligning their messages and remaining on-brand with each of their campaigns.
According to our research the aim of AT&T’s messaging through the
“Just OK” campaign, was to position themselves ahead of their competition in
the minds of consumers. Their goal was not to sell merchandise, rather the
message was centered around the awareness of their 5G capabilities. AT&T’s
commercials proved to be relatable because they were funny and lighthearted.
People were able to relate to them regardless if it was because of a just ok
tattoo, or a just ok surgeon. Of course, no one would purposely choose the “OK”
option of anything so why would they choose anyone other than AT&T? Playing
on this idea was a strategic tactic to use when trying to raise awareness of
their brand. AT&T utilized the fact that they are the biggest network
according to root metrics to validate their claim of being the best network. We
decided to do our research on their bold claim and discovered that they are
second to Verizon. Their message, therefore, can be perceived as untrue and
misleading.
As far as AT&T’s messaging pertaining solely to the block party, one
could say it was just ok. Their reach via social media was low and their
commercials could have been better executed. One of the ways we felt they could
create better brand awareness and identity, is by associating themselves with
one or two celebrities as was done by Capital One. Because of the strategic
placement of Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson, and Spike Lee in Capital One
media they became synonymous with the brand, especially during March Madness.
AT&T could identify more with the public if they started their campaign
earlier to build awareness of the event and its activities as well as aligning
themselves with a familiar face.
AT&T’s media usage was irrelevant to its success in the “Just OK”
campaign. They did not use media to reach out to customers before their event,
rather they simply posted a few pictures after the Block Party. They had little
to no media presence across all platforms ranging from Instagram, Twitter,
Facebook, and Snapchat. The only real media usage we were able to find was a
live stream of the event. AT&T is a telecommunications company could have
used their resources to their advantage when promoting their event through
media.
Going forward we have concluded that it would be most beneficial to use
the goal-setting framework known as S.M.A.R.T. to guide actions and ensure they
lead to real business results. S.M.A.R.T. consists of specific, measurable,
attainable, relevance and time. AT&T should be clear and specific with all
aspects regarding their media reach. Who is AT&T’s target audience (college
students/family environment)? What type of engagement are they seeking? Does
“increase engagement” mean they want 100 new followers or 10,000? AT&T
making their social media goals specific helps track progress and measure success.
Going forward, is the goal measurable? Every goal needs some kind of metric.
“Just Ok is not Ok” is a great concept, but it’s not a goal unless there is a
way to measure that improvement. To solve this they could utilize likes and
comments as metrics and make sure that they are attainable. Building brand
awareness leading up to the Block Party will help to increase these numbers. To
increase the relevance AT&T could introduce a hashtag such as
#JustOkayIsNotOkay. Influencers could be poked fun at for their “just ok NBA
careers” then reflect on their “more than just okay” college careers. (i.e.
Christian Laettner, Adam Morrison, Greg Oden, Jay Williams). Lastly, goals
should have a set deadline that runs concurrently with the ‘Road to Final Four’
in March 2020.
Although we did
discover that the AT&T campaign could have been executed more effectively,
according to Zoomph (an advanced social media analytics tool) the “Just OK”
campaign has the highest impression value despite not having the highest reach or
activity. The campaign reached an impression value of $358k and a total
activity of 19k (3rd behind Nike and Under Armour) posts which makes each post
worth $18.84. The campaign reached 12M people which ranks 5th among campaigns
that ran during March Madness (Google was the highest with 23M) (Blosat, 2019
Top sponsors ranked by impression value). The contribution of this success was
that they had headliners such as Chainsmokers and partnered with social media
influencers such as Rachel DeMita. Partnering with an expert in this field
proved to be more beneficial than having a celebrity contributing to a high
ROI. Despite not reaching as many people as other campaigns they were able to
effectively convert those posts into more sales. If the campaign could use the
same techniques with pop-culture icons, they could increase their reach while
maintaining their impression value which will increase overall revenue for the
company.
When reviewing the previous AT&T Block Parties, the campaign did a
superb job of obtaining popular artists to perform. In 2018, Jason Aldean who
has had an honorable Country Music career opened the Friday night block party
on the AT&T stage in San Antonio, Texas. In 2019, the Grammy award-winning
group the Chain-Smokers opened the AT&T stage in Minneapolis. This year’s
2020 NCAA Final Four is scheduled to take place in Atlanta, Georgia. The New
York Times (2009) called Atlanta “hip-hop’s center of gravity” in which the
city is home to some of music’s most legendary performers (Caramanica, 2009,
para 1). Although the most listened genre of music in the state of Georgia was
listed as country, it would be preferred if the campaign focused on booking
artists relatable to millennials (Resinkoff, 2016, Digital Music News, section
1). A March Madness study conducted by Wallet-hub projections and data
collected by the NCAA states, “56% of millennials are willing to miss a work
deadline to watch a March Madness game” (Kiernan, 2019, para 3). Last year
March Madness brought 94,000 people to Minneapolis, so this year they can look
to increase those numbers. With Atlanta's rich history for culture and music,
we deemed it necessary to recommend that homegrown artist be chosen to perform
for the AT&T's block party. This can boost attendance by attracting
non-basketball fans to participate in the block party by bringing a cultural
connection with legendary artists and their fans. AT&T can benefit by
appearing knowledgeable, respectful and appreciative of Atlanta’s culture which
increases the brand perception of AT&T and the NCAA by connecting the
culture of Atlanta with multiple generations, thus connecting them with their
brand.
With the AT&T block party being the first event to kick off March
Madness, we stressed the importance of AT&T creating an environment where
consumers experience more than a "just ok" event. Being first means
that they are not only introducing the tournament to the fans but also the
city. AT&T can utilize this event to make a statement by selecting
homegrown multigenerational artists to set the tone for the NCAA 2020 Final
Four weekend. This will cause fans to be more excited about the upcoming
tournament as well as what the city has to offer.
As we reflect on the “Just OK” campaign and their connection to the Block
Party it is evident that several aspects were overall lacking. Their objective
to portray that they are the best network was not proven statistically nor was
it backed by their campaign. Their messaging was vague and left room for
speculation and their media usage was slim to none. This campaign was very
disconnected from March Madness. From an outsider's perspective, it is
difficult to understand why a company such as AT&T would be interested in
an event like March Madness. The connection was never made, and it is apparent
that AT&T did not prioritize this event. The “Just OK is not OK” slogan
could have been used to their advantage in numerous ways. One of the most
important ways AT&T can show that they are better than their competitors is
by conducting a stellar kickoff Block Party that incorporates innovative
technology. Because AT&T is a telecommunications company, they should raise
the bar for technology usage in their show. AT&T even with their subpar
marketing techniques converted the largest number of customers to their brand
resulting in them having the most successful campaign in terms of ROI. If
AT&T would incorporate even just a few of the strategies explained in this
paper they would be able to achieve, an even greater amount returns which would
come from the Block Party being an overall better experience.
References
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29). March Madness Sponsors on Social – Top 10 Brands. Retrieved from https://zoomph.com/blog/march-madness-sponsors-on-social-the-top-10-brands-from-the-ncaa-tournament/.
Caramanica, J. (2009,
December 11). No Holds Barred for Gucci Mane. The New York Times.
Kiernan, J. (2019, March
13). 2019 March Madness Stats and Facts. WalletHub Blog. Retieved
Newberry,
C. (2019, May 14). How to Set and Reach Social Media Goals ( 10 Types of Goals
to Track). Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/smart-social-media-goals/.
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Resinkoff, P. (2016,
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