In case you missed it (you didn’t), AT&T won headlines last year by acquiring DirecTV with the FCC’s blessing in a deal worth nearly $50 billion.
Grey has been DirecTV’s agency of record for some time, with BBDO handling the AT&T business. But the parent company–which had just added a bunch of old movies and shows to its on-demand collection–picked Grey to create an August spot explaining why the merger is very good for consumers and Star Trek fans everywhere.
Now we hear that the client is fielding another set of pitches. These concern upcoming campaigns that will promote the most inevitable product of the merger: AT&T/DirecTV package deals.
Sources close to the matter tell us that Grey and BBDO are competing to become the agency to work on spots hyping combo packages like these, which combine services much like Verizon’s Internet/phone/TV deals involving its FiOS bundle.
It’s unclear how large the project will be, but Kantar Media tells us that DirecTV spent about $355 million on measured media in 2015 while AT&T spent approximately $404.6 million.
Both agencies of record have declined to comment for this post. An AT&T spokesperson told us that the company has not launched a full creative review for either of its main accounts but did not respond to our request for comment on whether it is currently fielding pitches for the DirecTV package project.
At any rate, expect AT&T/DirecTV package deal campaigns to come.