AT&T
August 31, 2012

Real Storytelling

Did you catch any of those AT&T ads during the Olympics in which a winning swimmer or runner time was actually in the spot like right after somebody won a race? It wasn’t that immediate (though I remember it so), but it was nevertheless an incredibly brilliant example of how the artifice and invention of marketers could produce stories that were as real as reality.

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Jonathan Salem Baskin, storytelling, campaigns, advertising, AT&T
December 5, 2011

A Case for Social Media

Although AT&T stuffed the announcement of its intention to takeover rival T-Mobile with all of the usual claptrap about improving the service its customers got, it was clear -- like most big ticket financial deals -- that it would most likely only pay rich benefits to the senior execs at both companies and their strategic advisors through layoffs and other "economies of scale."

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Jonathan Salem Baskin, social media, AT&T, Telco
April 15, 2010

What AT&T Could Learn from McDonald’s

I usually try to keep my critiques to categories I’ve worked in, primarily because I think it’s irresponsible for me to comment on what works and what doesn’t when I have little basis for my assessment other than being a consumer. So I initially demurred when some folks have asked for my POV on AT&T’s new campaign, Rethink Possible.

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Denise Lee Yohn, McDonald's, AT&T, telecom operators, campaign
April 5, 2010

AT&T's Breakout Strategy

With a carrier-agnostic iPhone coming to market later this summer, the conventional wisdom is that AT&T will lose customers (its phone coverage and iPhone service haven't been stellar) and a lot of profits (some say the iPhone has been not only its brightest but biggest single source of earnings).

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Jonathan Salem Baskin, AT&T, mobile, iPhone, telecom, strategy
August 15, 2009

Customers Are Talking: Why Do Companies Continue to Do Such Dumb Stuff?

Two blog posts struck a chord with me this week. First, Bob Sutton posted on Wal-Mart’s decision to stock Girl-Scout-cookie knockoffs (the delightfully-named “Thin Mint-y Gate“). Then David Pogue provided an update on “Take Back the Beep,” his campaign to get wireless companies to stop playing lengthy introductory messages to callers trying to leave voice mail.

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Wal-Mart, Verizon, siloes, outside-in, organizational behaviour, John Caddell, innovation, AT&T
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