T-Mobile Goes for Message of Equality With Super Bowl Spot Narrated by Kerry Washington

T-Mobile is taking a new approach to the Super Bowl.

The brand has a 60-second spot narrated by Kerry Washington in the third quarter of the Big Game with a message that promotes equality and equal pay. The spot, which was created by its in-house creative team with production assistance by Laundry Service,  also uses a cover of Nirvana’s “All Apologies.”

“There’s a conversation happening in the country, and there’s a conversation happening with our customers,” said Nick Drake, evp of marketing and experience at T-Mobile. “As a brand that stands for challenging the status quo, we felt that we’d only shown a light on some aspects of that belief, primarily what we’ve done to change the industry.”

Drake continued, “We felt that we should enter the conversation on equality, particularly given our incredible track record in that direction.”

The ad was created three or four weeks ago, according to Drake, who added that it is part of an evolution for the direction of the brand that we’ll see more of in the coming weeks.

Though it’s a message of equality, Drake noted, “We certainly don’t view it as political.”

“We think this is a national conversation, certainly one of unity but primarily of equality,” he said. ” The problem with the word equality is that it means many things. We wanted to highlight some of the things we find particularly important and where T-Mobile has been making great strides.”

When pressed on T-Mobile’s track record with regard to equal pay, Drake explained, “We wanted to specifically address equal pay. We’re at 100 percent for minorities and 99.65 percent for women and we won’t stop until that’s 100 percent. We feel that we should step out there, contribute to the conversation and make sure our point of view is in front of America.”

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Kristina Monllos

@KristinaMonllos

Kristina Monllos is a senior editor for Adweek.