BBDO’s Atlanta and New York offices crafted a 60-second holiday ad for AT&T calling on viewers to be “Present” during the holidays.
The spot shows a montage of an adolescent girl and her family preparing for the holidays. As they spend quality time together, pick out a tree, put up the lights and go ice skating she always seems to be preoccupied with her cell phone, to her father’s continual disappointment. At this point the ad brings to mind the 2013 Apple spot “Misunderstood,” which ended with a teen boy surprising his family with a holiday video he had been making the whole time. But this girl has a different kind of surprise gift for her dad: she has carefully wrapped up her phone and given it to him so that she can be more present during the celebration. AT&T is not the first brand to ask viewers to turn off their cell phones and connect, as back in June Droga5 and Dixie asked viewers to go “#DarkForDinner.” But the message seems more appropriate timed for the holidays and AT&T seems more well-suited to deliver such a request.
The spot, and a 30-second edit, launched today and will run for only two days (December 24 and 25) on broadcast and AT&T’s social channels. Additionally, the brand will be pulling all other retail spots from its social channels to ensure “Present” is the only thing shared with consumers, a nice touch in reinforcing the message behind the ad.
Credits:
Client: AT&T
Agency: BBDO Atlanta and New York
Title: “Present”
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Matt MacDonald
SR. Creative Director: Stephen McMennamy
SR. Creative Director: Alex Russell
Associate Director: Chris Miller
Associate Creative Director: Bryan Lee
Director of Integrated Production: Dave Rolfe
Group Executive Producer: Julie Collins
Executive Producer: Cheryl Gackstetter
Music Producer: Melissa Chester
SR. Group Account Director – Deborah von Kutzleben
Account Director – Laura Perrizo
Account Supervisor – Kelly Willard
Production: Bob Industries
Directors – Dayton/Faris
Director of Photography – Corey Walter
Executive Producers– TK Knowles, John O’Grady, Chuck Ryant
Head of Production – Bart Lipton
Edit: Bikini Edit
Editor: Avi Oron
Executive Producer: Gina Pagano
Audio Engineer – Evan Mangiamele (Heard City)
Colorist – Tim Masick (Company 3)
Music Company : Walker
Conform – Bryce Edwards, Executive Producer (Spontaneous)