Final report by Nick Small

IT’S COMING...

TAKEO T V &

goodforit

AT&T Takeover

goodforit

Final Report Agency 283 University of Nebraska – Lincoln On behalf of AT&T, EdVenture Partners 12.9.2014

Organizational Chart Executive Summary Research Campaign Strategy & Implementation Public Relations Advertising Budget Recommendations Photos and Captions Appendices Timeline SWOT Analysis (Works Sited) Response Cards Press Releases PR Hits Advertisements

Table of Contents

26 27 32 34 36 37

Organizational Chart

Executive Summary Three months, 19 students, hundreds of ideas and even more laughs have led us where we are today. What started as an advertising strategy class quickly turned into Agency 283 – a full-‐service advertising lab at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL). As an agency, we were given the following business objectives: “Understand AT&T’s brand perception with students, alumni, and faculty. Create a robust marketing strategy that makes a positive impact on choosing AT&T as their provider of choice: Capitalize on the university student/faculty discount offered by AT&T; Design an omni channel experience that is digital & physical (online/mobile/retail/social) while promoting AT&T’s products and services,” as well as “Understand AT&T as an industry leader and the career opportunities that exist. Create a complimentary marketing strategy that also promotes AT&T as a great place to work: Educate students and faculty about AT&T and available career progression; Design an innovative solution to capture and deliver diverse, qualified applicants in the areas of business sales, retail management, technology, and business management. The agency’s direct measure of success, suggested by EdVenture Partners and AT&T is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), as well as that score of student and university staff (NPS).” As per usual in the industry, Agency 283 began with research before creating a SWOT analysis. Through both quantitative MRI+ data and over 400 personalized surveys to members of the target market (both before and after the event), the agency gained great insight on the needs and wants of consumers within the specified market at UNL. However, we wanted to take it a step further. We then completed 19 qualitative interviews with AT&T employees and members of the target market—some AT&T customers, some not. What we found was unsurprising, and a little disappointing. Low visibility and poor perception on campus led to the Net Promoter Score being -‐23 for AT&T consumers, and a score of -‐316 between all pre-‐campaign surveys. Once the research was in, the ideas started flowing, and the “#goodforit” campaign was launched. Focused on connecting directly with millennials, the campaign took the stance of a “cool parent.” Namely, the agency wanted to highlight the various ways AT&T supports its consumers and employees through guerilla, surprise-‐and-‐delight tactics. From hidden envelopes with trivia and educational facts about AT&T, to dollar bills, and even candy, the agency took UNL’s campus by storm. An AT&T Takeover event was hosted outside the Nebraska Union – the heart of campus – featuring hot cocoa, break dancers, DJs, and puppies, along with the It Can Wait simulator and AT&T employees. Social media was buzzing with posts and pictures about AT&T and the many ways they were #goodforit on campus. To better connect with the target audience, each member of the agency shared posts on their own accounts, as we’ve found word of mouth travels further than simply positing from an official account. Our results showed that our social media tactics were very successful on a variety of platforms – including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We’ve found that total social media impressions to be 73,484. After the event, a video was created and distributed on social media, and post-‐surveys were collected. We found that the AT&T Takeover event and #goodforit campaign were a success. We raised the NPS score for all surveys from –376 to -‐349 (roughly a 6.5% increase), and that for AT&T customers from -‐23 to -‐4 (roughly a 42.7% increase). Overall, the campaign has been an incredible learning experience for all involved. Each and everyone of has as gained insight on the advertising world, and are thankful for getting the opportunity to represent AT&T on UNL’s campus. 4

Research We learned a large amount of information from the surveys we administered prior to our campaign. Obviously the main statistic we were asked to measure was the Net Promoter Score, but we also noticed several other interesting trends in the data we analyzed. Our original survey garnered 413 responses, with 292 respondents, or 70.7%, having Verizon as a wireless provider, while AT&T only had 47 respondents, or 11.38%. Using those 47 respondents who are AT&T customers, we ended up calculating a Net Promoter Score of -‐17, with 6 respondents ranking their likelihood of recommending AT&T as a 9 or 10, and 23 ranking 1-‐6. Possibly more important in our situation is to develop two different forms of the NPS, an adapted score and an average score. The adapted NPS is derived from calculating the NPS for AT&T using every response, regardless of each respondent’s wireless provider. This will give us an idea of how our campus really feels about AT&T. This adapted NPS was -‐376, so clearly AT&T began with a very negative impression on this campus. We also felt that a gross measurement of everyone’s NPS of their own wireless provider would be a very important statistic to measure. We calculated this number to be -‐136, so obviously people have a generally negative impression of their wireless provider, regardless of which provider they have. Another good piece of information from our original surveys was the question, “Do you believe AT&T is a great place to work?” 25 people said yes, 20 said no, and 368 said they didn’t know. We hope that many of those respondents who didn’t know will move into the “Yes” category. Another piece of valuable information from our original survey came from a question we added, “How visible is AT&T as a brand on the UNL campus?” No one ranked the question as a 9 or 10, while 339 of our respondents ranked visibility from 0-‐3. One other statistic, which tells us more about our target market, is respondents’ plans on when they will move off their family plans, since a vast majority of respondents are currently on family plans. We found that 275 of our respondents don’t plan on getting their own plans for at least 2 years. Lastly, there was also a question asking what the key driver in switching wireless providers was for our target market. In order of most responses, Price/Rate of Plans and Network Quality/Reception were by far the most popular responses. 5

Pre-‐ and Post-‐ Campaign Research Comparison

Campaign Strategy and Implementation

Objectives To gain a better understanding of both the views of our target audience and representative employees of AT&T in order to reach the double campaign objectives. Target Market Millennial market, between the ages of 18-‐34; specifically, college students at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Positioning and Message AT&T as Employer: To students at the University of Nebraska -‐ Lincoln who are seeking adventure in the form of exciting, meaningful employment, AT&T is the brand of employer that encourages exploration and personal growth with incredible benefits, infinite opportunities and genuine support. The brand personality is modern, unexpected and innovative. AT&T as Wireless Provider: To students at the University of Nebraska -‐ Lincoln who will eventually be seeking individual cell phone plans, AT&T is the brand of cell phone service provider that builds a relationship through genuine, personalized experiences with every customer, no matter where their adventures take them. The brand personality is authentic, committed and involved.

Campaign Strategy and Implementation

AT&T Takeover Detailed Event Tactics Original Tactics Free Hot Chocolate The idea is that AT&T will be there for you when you need it. In Nebraska, fall is a cold period of time. While students are walking to class, we wanted to make a student’s day by providing them with hot chocolate. When first brainstorming for hot chocolate, our original idea included designing sleeves that included the slogan #goodforit with a colorful version of the AT&T logo and a date of the event. After going through costs, we decided to instead design stickers rather than sleeves to stick onto the cup. A few days before the event, we passed out the hot chocolate outside of the Union encouraging students to tweet, Instagram, and Facebook the hashtag to create buzz. With leftover hot chocolate, we also decided to pass out hot chocolate at the event as well because of the success of it just a few days before. Chalking One day before the event, art students shared their creativity outside the Nebraska Union by drawing pictures that included the colorful AT&T logo. Around the logo, #goodforit was also chalked on to the ground so that it could create curiosity for students as they were walking to class. AT&T Employee Interactions At the event, AT&T Employees were present to answer any questions that students may have about future employment opportunities. An online application was also available for any students to fill out. The employees not only gave the business side of the company, but they showed students that AT&T is a fun place to work with friendly employees. It Can Wait Simulator At the event, students were able to experience texting and driving. Through the It Can Wait Simulator, at first looks like a fun game gave students an idea about how AT&T cares about their safety through the scary reality of texting and driving. UNL DJ Club At the event, the UNL DJ Club played music to build up hype. These students created a fun and inviting atmosphere to our event and gave students the impression that this is what AT&T is about. UNL Breakdance Club At the event, the UNL Breakdance Club flashed the AT&T logo on their shirts as they provided a fun vibe that drew students in to the event. Social Media Through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter students shared their excitement about the AT&T Takeover event. #foodforIi was used with these posts onto social media. Excitement included students thanking AT&T for possible hot chocolate, gift cards, or even an iPad Mini that students may have won. Hidden Prizes When thinking about how to implement hype for the AT&T Takeover event, Agency 283 decided that prize envelopes should be hidden around campus. After looking at costs, CD sleeves were used instead of envelopes. This CD sleeve included the colorful AT&T logo, and a sticker on the back that read

#goodforit. Inside all of the sleeves, there were trivia facts about the services that AT&T provides, as well as raffle tickets that could be used at the event. Some of the sleeves included prizes such as one dollar bills, five dollar bills, or candy. These sleeves were hidden around campus in places such as classrooms, under chairs, in doors, or on tables. Stressed Out? AT&T is #goodforit When thinking about what a good stress reliever is, puppies are the first thing to come to mind. At the event, a puppy wearing an AT&T t-shirt happily greeted students and took their mind off of any possible stresses from school that they had. This provided the idea to students that they can rely on AT&T to provide a non-‐ stressful experience. Additional Tactics Writing Board At the event, a writing board was featured to get student’s inputs and opinions. One side of the board asked students what their dream job was. On the other side of the board it asked students about what their dream carrier would include. This board gave students the opportunity to voice a unique part of their personality, and possibly even open up doors for employment at AT&T in jobs that students are not always aware of. Raffle At the event, students had the opportunity to be entered in a raffle. This raffle included prizes such as an iPad mini or AT&T giftcards. #goodforit Video To extend the hype of the AT&T event, a video was created and posted onto YouTube. This video included behind-the-scenes work, buildup to the event, and finally the event itself. The behind-the-scenes work included Agency283 organizing the envelopes that were going to be hidden around campus. The buildup to the event included hot chocolate being passed out to students at the union. The event itself featured all of the aspects of the event and the reactions of students. We used the song “Good 4 It” by Wallpaper for the video Future Improvements Video Promo Clips If given the chance to do this again, Video Promo clips is something we would like to include in the future. This would include hiding envelopes around campus, and students finding them.

Timeline

TIMELINE: September 16: Initial Meeting/Client Briefing October 7: Release Pre-Survey October 28: Campaign Briefing November 13: Hand out Hot Chocolate at the Union November 14: Hide Trivia inserts around Campus November 17: Chalking at the Union November 18: AT&T Takeover Event at the Union November 25: Release Post Survey November 25-December 1: Release AT&T Fun Fact Images on Social Media November 27: Release Event Video December 9: Final Presentation December 16: Dallas Presentation

Response Cards/Opt-‐Ins

Response Cards – Total: 71 NAME

PHONE

Will Murdy Phuc Trinh Sager Nate Nemer Grant Garcia Justin Wheeler Nate Boocord Eric Bortnem Rachel Samuelson Baugon Sharma Christian Peterson Sam Oetjen Jake Snyder Nathan Gradouille Andrew Han Mara Schwarting Evan Brende Jeanette Tran Brent Flentje Megan Abbott Katie Downey Abby Collins Sarid-Yumiddin Hanna Olson Gail Jeffrey Hannah Malone Schylir Rowan Kathleen Loach Adam Barrett Mitchell Johnson You Zhou Gabriel P Phuc Trinh Peter H Trevor Titus Davyen Nelson Kathryn Rentfro Bryce Gruhn Josh Neumayer Elliot Janssen Brooke Jacobi Azlin Armstrong Toni Karaus

720-224-4538 402-617-0472 402-613-3467 402-578-2759 913-660-2151 402-541-8632 719-466-1513 605-999-1619 402-719-8078 913-669-7267 913-575-2504 402-657-9788 402-350-6443 402-575-1301 402-210-8016 402-429-3840 605-370-2997 402-570-9825 402-770-1138 815-931-5482 402-690-4423 402-432-6100 402-637-3129 402-429-2457 402-880-2185 402-853-3877 515-703-9927 402-651-0893 714-600-0271 308-380-9221 402-525-4058 402-279-2007 402-617-0472 402-965-1123 719-466-1513 719-466-1313 443-758-5718 402-405-4736 402-881-6741 402-720-2329 402-984-7377 515-423-7367 402-714-6707

william.murdy@comcast.net phuchtrinh24@gmail.com ssakw@hotmail.com nnemer3221@gmail.com ggarciahusker@gmail.com justinwheeler64@yahoo.com mr.nelson249@gmail.com ebortnem5@gmail.com rachel_sammy@hotmail.com baugon.sharma@gmail.com cpcpeterson99@gmail.com samoetjen@yahoo.com jakesnyder73748@yahoo.com grads21@gmail.com andrewshan25@yahoo.com mararose782@yahoo.com eabrende@gmail.com thao_wyen12@yahoo.com brentflentje@gmail.com abbottmegan@yahoo.com ksdowney95@gmail.com abbycollins@hotmail.com nurik236@gmail.com hrolson21@gmail.com gailjeff14@yahoo.com hmalone182@yahoo.com skidnee@ine.com kloach@huskers.unl.edu adambarrett57@yahoo.com gijohnson62@gmail.com zhouyou0399@gmail.com gabrielg.perera@gmail.com phuctrinh24@gmail.com phelstrom@gmail.com davyen.nelson@gmail.com mr.nelson47@gmail.com kathrynrentfro@hotmail.com bgruhn123@aol.com joshneumayer1@gmail.com elliotjanssen@hotmail.com Brookemj41@gmail.com azlin@armstrong tlkaraus@gmail.com

Jacob Allen Cameron Bruegger Ryan Ainshe Taylor Hanson Santiago Pardo Michaela Sullivan Nate Smith

402-740-0088 308-631-8797 402-853-1151 402-440-5460 308-370-0539 402-779-1752

jakeallen17@aol.com cbruegg989@gmail.com Raynamslie96@gmail.com taylorhanson94@yahoo.com spardo@krgi.com mickey14567@com.net

Emene Gifford Tanner Gach Madison Nichols Morgan McCulbugh Luke Billington Karissa Malone Hannah Swanson Kyler James Larkin Laura Munoz Abby Mcclure

402-440-2296 402-215-4747 720-951-2946 402-657-0273 402-304-6115 402-853-3876 308-258-3431 402-239-3212 719-466-1513 602-690-9420 402-802-8806

ggifford@windstream.net tannergach@yahoo.com maddramaqueen13@yahoo.com Mlmccullough6@gmail.com luke@meetluke.com krmalone93@heskos.rdni hannah.swanson@huskers.unl.edu kjrbeachgum@yahoo.com Mr.nelson249@gmail.com laurakmunoz@gmail.com Abmm494@yahoo.com

Muhammad Hazmi

402-405-5272

Muahammadhazmi@huskers.unl.edu

402-429-3840 402-440-3019

mararose782@yahoo.com

David Mor Mara Schwarting Jade M. Ahmad Zahid Michael Burns Joselyn Wojtalewise Laura Olson Molly Matt Ned Doley

314-803-9924 402-213-1471 402-253-5817 680-7783 4-2=709-9619

Ibnrazak95@gmail.com michaelanthonyburns@hotmail.com josbball@cox.net lauraolson016@gmail.com nedkoley@yahoo.com

Event Layout

Public Relations Public Relations Objective: Promote AT&T as an adventurous, involved company that is always there for employees and customers. All should create excitement and interest in upcoming AT&T Takeover. (Note that social media and the #goodforit hashtag will be utilized to reach our target audience underlying both our promotions and the event itself) Strategy One: Create an event that displays AT&T’s adventurous nature and authenticity around campus. This event should also be educational about job opportunities and phone service benefits. Tactic: Use CD paper holders & print out renovated logo with #goodforit on the outside with the interesting fact on the other side. Include a surprise and delight factor by randomly inserting money and candy. Hide them across campus & promote on social media using the hashtag. Strategy Two: Show that AT&T is involved and personable. Tactic: Hand out hot cocoa within the week of the event to create buzz about the AT&T Takeover. Print stickers with new logo, hashtag and name/date of the event. Prime area would be on central campus outside of the Union. By doing so, students will have it engrained that AT&T was there for them on a cold day, so they would be there for them in other situations, too.

Public Relations Total Facebook friends of students in ADPR283: 7808 Total Facebook likes from posts from students in ADPR283: 108 Total Facebook shares from posts from students in ADPR283: 16 Total Facebook impressions from students in ADPR283: 7,932 Total Twitter followers from students in ADPR283: 7,706 Total Twitter favorites from posts from students in ADPR283: 129 Total Twitter retweets from posts from students in ADPR283: 36 Total Twitter impressions from students in ADPR283: 7871 Total Instagram followers from students in ADPR283: 2129 Total Instagram likes from from students in ADPR283: 264 Total Instagram impressions from from students in ADPR283: 2404 Total Impressions from students in ADPR283: 18,207 The following is people that shared/retweeted posts from ADPR283 students: Total number of people other than ADPR283 students to share or retweet: 73 Total number other than ADPR283 students to have shares/retweets on their posts: 49 Total number other than ADPR283 students to have likes/favorites on their posts: 169 Total number of followers/friends other than ADPR283 students: 50083 Total number of additional retweets and shares and their followers: 4903 Total Impressions from people other than ADPR283 students: 55277 TOTAL IMPRESSIONS: 73,484

Advertising Advertising Objectives-‐ -‐ To create an engaging, interactive campaign that encourages UNL students to actively participate and share with their peers, increasing the reach of the campaign. The AT&T promotion will include pre-‐event giveaways to create hype, an AT&T sponsored “Takeover,” and a post-‐ experience video to increase awareness of the message. The campaign will feature bright colors to convey a modern, playful impression, and copy that focuses on promoting the multifaceted world of AT&T and the opportunities that it provides for students and employees. Strategy-‐ To create hype and intrigue before the AT&T event. Tactic-‐ The hot cocoa giveaway and hidden envelopes with AT&T trivia and surprises created interest with UNL students regarding the AT&T “Takeover.” With it focused on a surprise and delight tactic, it promoted the idea that AT&T is playful and easygoing, while including the hashtag #goodforit to remind students of the company’s reliability. Strategy-‐ To continue the spread of information and awareness after the event. Tactic-‐ Student videographers were present at the AT&T “Takeover” to capture the excitement and student activity. The informative video was disbursed via social media slightly before the survey was released for the second time, to inform as many students as possible of the “Takeover” event and AT&T’s dependability and community values. Strategy Successes One of the most successful strategies for the event was the Good For It theme and hashtag. The team focused on improving the view of AT&T’s reliability in Lincoln, as well as the company’s interest in community involvement and job stability. The #goodforit hashtag enabled the message to be presented in a unified manner via every social media platform utilized by students, as well as on print materials that were distributed in person. Strategy Improvements The main strategy that could have been improved was the hidden envelopes with prizes and trivia. Due to university restrictions, the team was not able to include dollar bills in the envelopes (aside from those some group members graciously donated), which was the original giveaway concept. Although the strategy was still a success, the addition of dollar bills would have encouraged much more buzz on social media and by word-‐of-‐mouth interactions between students. 17

Advertising Our campaign was centered on an effort to educate college students on the topics of wireless providers and career opportunities, and to show how AT&T is the ideal provider and employer. Through our research, we found that AT&T carried a very low perception in the minds of our target market, and had extremely low visibility on campus. We also found that a vast majority of students weren’t even planning on getting their own wireless plan for at least two years. Therefore, we felt that our objectives would be to keep AT&T top of mind for our target market and to build a positive and relatable brand perception on our campus. We decided that conventional advertising would likely be ineffective, as most traditional advertising is not widely consumed in the vacuum of a college campus. Therefore, we aimed to meet our target market face to face and show them an experience that would be indicative of one they could expect from AT&T. Therefore, we had essentially three advertising tactics that made up our campaign, along with the event that these tactics revolved around. We began with a day where we gave out hot chocolate outside of the Student Union, with stickers that had our rendition of the AT&T globe as well as our #goodforit that was the basis of our campaign. The intention was to show how AT&T could provide comfort and support, with our hot chocolate being analogous to great customer service and friendly employees. We then created our inserts, which were paper CD cases that had our AT&T globe, hashtag, a “fun fact” about AT&T, and a raffle slip that could be turned in at our event. Some envelopes included money or candy. We wanted to “surprise and delight” students with this aspect of our campaign, so we chose to place our inserts in as many places around campus as possible and let students find the inserts themselves, with the hopes of piquing their interest enough that they would interact with our campaign either over social media or by attending our event. After our event, we created a video that highlighted all the best parts of our event, as well as why each part was relevant to what AT&T is and how students should perceive the brand. We aimed to keep the video in line with the rest of our campaign by using the song, which inspired our hashtag, “Good 4 It” by Wallpaper. We also hoped to keep the same breeziness and relaxed attitude in the video that we intended with our event and other materials. Every aspect of our design and the campaign as a whole was designed with bright, energetic colors to keep a certain degree of youthfulness and interest in the minds of those who saw our materials. We figured displaying a familiar symbol (the AT&T globe) in a new way with our interesting color palette would be memorable and distinct in the minds of our target market, and that we would back up that sentiment with our event and video later in our campaign. In terms of successes and failures, we found that most of our campaign was very well received. Considering limitations of time and finances, we felt extremely well about the quality of materials we created, such as our cups with stickers, t-‐shirts, inserts, and the post-‐event video. The feedback we received on each of these aspects was generally positive. However, we really feel we could have made changes to increase the number of interactions with these materials. Logistically, we weren’t able to reach a very wide spread area with our hot chocolate giveaway. We also had an issue of having a low rate of people actually acting upon our inserts we hid around campus. We would have liked to find a way to encourage more people to open the inserts and read the facts inside and bring in the raffle ticket, and we have discussed ways in which we could have approached this differently, such as simply printing “Open Me” on the CD envelopes. We would have also liked to have a way to measure the interactions with these inserts, as we can really only measure the responses in terms of number of raffle tickets turned in.

Advertising

Budget

Recommendations From interactive board at event What do you want from a cell service provider? • Data! Lots of it! • More storage! • Great coverage! • Student discounts! • Data and coverage across Nebraska • Freedom • Good coverage…even at grandma’s house in the middle of nowhere • Nice employees • Good coverage even in the depths of NEBRASKA • No coverage for Miami or Wisconsin!!! #GBR • Free cracked screen fixes! • Service everywhere! • I AM NOT A PRODUCT. RESPECT MY PRIVACY • Cheap, unlimited data • Great coveravge • Hot chocolate and puppies • Cheap, unlimited DATA • Great coverage What’s your dream job? AT&T is #goodforit • Help people <3 • One that allows me to travel!! • Buzzfeed • Educator • To provide to all people • Fish store owner • Museum curator! • AT&T Employee, duh • Work at an advertising agency • News anchor • Performer • Make people happy! • Corporate trainer • Firefighter or CIA officer • Digital media analyst • Imaginer • Marketing manager

Recommendations From Agency 283 • • • • • • • • •

Free, unlimited data More stores in Nebraska Make student discounts available for family plans where students aren't the primary account holder More promotion from AT&T about employment opportunities beyond the scope of the salesperson; that friendly experts are more than just salespeople Better coverage in Nebraska Offer customers gadgets/devices, such as a Bluetooth adapter that works via car cigarette lighter Give customers incentives to switch, such as covering/buying out contracts to switch Free phone crack fixes Contracts that are not binding and that allow you to upgrade phones

Photos and captions

Puppies are a man’s best friend. AT&T is everyone’s best friend.

Even in the blistering cold, AT&T is #goodforit.

Bruno, bringing smiles to peoples faces since 2013. AT&T, bring smiles to peoples faces since 1885.

Taking time out of their day to make some one else’s. #goodforit In the picture: Sydne Rowen, Yoni Gill, 26

Timeline

Appendix-‐ SWOT and Works Cited Strengths Weaknesses • Large amount of coverage area. • Poor network quality. • Award winning customer service. • Lack of clear communications between AT&T and students • Large amount of capital and about student discounts and Research and Development to employment/internships. create great products and services. • Employees don’t seem to know equal amounts about the • Many different types of company and available plans and employment in many different options. fields, can find a suitable job for almost any graduate. • Poor communication of benefits and variety of employment • Strong customer service/focus opportunities. on strong customer/company relationships • Very geographically strong, but not in our market. • Competitive rates with plan and pricing Opportunities Threats • Most of the target market will be • Possibility of people being looking to purchase cell phone grandfathered into plans with plans in their near future. their families’ providers. • Most of the target market does • Close competition with Verizon. not know much about cell phone • Verizon is considered to have providers and plans, so we can much better service quality. educate them with an emphasis • U.S. Cellular is the “Official Cell on AT&T as a good choice. Phone Provider” of UNL in terms • Typically considered a better of stadium advertisements, etc. “value” than Verizon (AT&T’s • Lack of consumer knowledge largest competitor). about exactly what constitutes a • In terms of AT&T as an employer, phone plan. no one is well aware of all the different opportunities AT&T can offer is numerous fields. • People in our target market will be seeking employment in the near future. • Potential for the installation of more towers nationwide

Company Analysis: Beginning in the 19th century, AT&T, or the American Telephone & Telegraph Company dominated the telephone monopoly in America, as it served as the parent company for the Bell System (AT&T Corporate History). AT&T specialized in integrated telecommunications services and equipment from 1984 through 1996, and today is a global networking leader (AT&T Corporate History). Two mission statements were found for the company. One stated, “Our mission is to exploit technical innovations for the benefit of AT&T and its customers by implementing next-‐generation technologies and network advancements in AT&T's services and operations” (AT&T Corporate Mission). The other can be found below in the Product Analysis. Simply stated, AT&T’s vision “is to design and create in this decade the new global network, processes, and service platforms that maximize automation, allowing for a reallocation of human resources to more complex and productive work” (AT&T Corporate Mission). From a financial standpoint, 2013 was a great year for AT&T. An annual report observed that 54 percent of revenue for the came from wireless.Revenues increased to $128.8 billion, and adjusted earnings per share were increased by over 8 percent. Another important point of interest is that during 2013, the company invested $25 billion to expand and extend their network (AT&T Annual Report). Beyond receive countless awards for innovation and corporate equality, AT&T also tied for first place in RootMetrics’ Combined Call/Text/Data category, with higher performance in 93 of 125 cities, more than any other carrier (AT&T Annual Report). They also boast the most reliable 4G LTE coverage in America -‐ with over 280 million people covered (AT&T Annual Report). Overall, while AT&T is at the top of it’s category for innovation, their advertisements do not contribute to their rapport with customers, and do not resonate with audiences. A campaign focused on targeting young adults who are in the process of creating an individual plan, or plan to do so soon, will be beneficial for the company as they move forward. Insights: AT&T is a huge company, which affords it many luxuries, like tons of capital and lots of Research and Development opportunities. For that reason, AT&T has been on the cutting edge of the telecommunications industry for a long time. In terms of how this can impact our campaign, it really speaks to the objective of trying to promote AT&T as a great workplace. There are countless available positions one could hold in many different industries, such as computer programming, engineering, and even the automotive industry (as learned from an employee at Lincoln’s AT&T store). These unexpected opportunities are what we need to be pushing throughout our campaign. Product Analysis: AT&T promotes its brand as stated in this statement, found on their consumer directed webpage, “For more than a century, we have consistently provided innovative, reliable, high-‐quality products and services and excellent customer care. Today, our mission is to connect people with their world, everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else. We're fulfilling this vision by creating new solutions for consumers and businesses and by driving innovation in the communications and entertainment industry” (AT&T Company Information). According to that statement, AT&T claims that their brand stands apart from others in its industry by not only reliably connecting its customers to their digital world, but also working steadily towards innovation, and by taking the best of care of their customers to achieve an unsurpassed company/consumer relationship. AT&T also prides themselves on being a brand that caters to what consumers want, and furthermore, providing an expansive variety of products and services that are cutting edge and “cool.”

Currently AT&T offers a vast array of services and products including broadband, home security and automation, international service plans, mobile phones, U-‐verse and Wi-‐Fi in addition to their opportunities for employment, which we will also be considering a “product” (AT&T Company Information). With that being said, the main two products that our campaign will be focusing on are mobile cellular phone services and employment at AT&T. AT&T makes several claims in regards the first product, cellular products/service, and why it is far superior to its competitors. These include… “AT&T covers more than 99% of American”, “AT&T has the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network, covering more than 290 million people”, “AT&T is expected to be substantially complete with its 4G LTE build by this summer”, “AT&T owns and operates more than 34,000 Wi-‐Fi hotspots at popular locations such as restaurants, bookstores, hotels and more”, and “International long distance service plans from AT&T cover over 25 countries” (AT&T Company Information). In addition to the claims made by the company regarding their cellular service, employees of AT&T also claim that the company offers far more products than their leading competitors and also are the sole provider of a DSM network in some areas (Personal Interview). Furthermore, AT&T offers a variety of job opportunities as well as cell services, which for our purposes, will also be considered a “product”. When searching for a job with AT&T, there are over forty different categories of work to choose from and opportunities in eleven countries (AT&T Careers). According to a “Friendly Expert” at the Lincoln location, working for AT&T provides employees with many benefits including opportunity for advancement, the control over one’s one success, 50% off discounts on phone bills, networking opportunities, and an enjoyable, yet interesting and ever-‐evolving work environment (Personal Interview). As for market share, AT&T and its competitor, Verizon, have always maintained the bulk of their market and are always neck and neck in market share. The most recent quarters show that Verizon did in fact have slightly more, though (Imtiaz). Insights: We are faced with the challenge of promoting two different products in one fell swoop: AT&T as a service provider, and AT&T as a potential workplace. Luckily, AT&T has many different departments that gather a huge range of talented workers in numerous fields, so almost anyone would feasibly be able to find a home in some department of AT&T, much different than the typical “phone salesman” stereotype. As a cell phone service provider, AT&T does have an existing issue of having very poor coverage in our target market; however, they have been making legitimate efforts to improve the coverage in large parts of Nebraska with the installation of many new cell phone towers. Promoting these “hidden” aspects of AT&T, both as a workplace and a service provider, will need to be the main focus of our campaign in order to inspire a real leap in our Net Promoter Score. Consumer analysis: In looking at AT&T versus leading competitors (Verizon and Sprint), cursory searching through each company’s website shows interesting differences in who they consider to be their core customers. When researching AT&T’s wireless plans, AT&T seems to push bundles and grouping multiple devices together onto one plan. There are countless references on the website to data sharing and mobile share plans (“Family Cell Phone Plans – Mobile Share Value Plans from AT&T”). This would lead one to believe that AT&T is focused on families, in that they want to attempt to sell multiple devices and services simultaneously. This is unfortunately different than who we will be tailoring our campaign towards. We all interviewed cell phone consumers in roughly our peer group, which was college students here at UNL. Many of us were unable to find users of AT&T, so we were forced to ask more general questions that our interviewees were still able to answers. Most of those 31

interviewed currently were covered under a family plan, which was chiefly held by their parents. A lack of knowledge of exactly what a wireless plan consisted of was also a purveying trend in our interviews. Similarly, there was a distinct lack of knowledge about AT&T as a future career option. When asked about it, many students seemed disinterested or put off by the idea of working at AT&T. Interestingly, practically everyone we interviewed only ever considered being a “phone salesman” as a job one could have at AT&T. Insights: Education will have to be the main focus of this campaign, as we are looking at a target market that can best be defined as “ignorant,” although not in a negative way. There’s really no reason for college students to know much about cell phone plans and service providers at this stage in their lives. Similarly, it would be tough to expect college students to be well aware of the many great career opportunities AT&T has to offer. However, most college students will have to be making these decisions and choices in their very near future. We will have to focus on educating college students on these important things, but in a way that will draw them to our campaign, as opposed to pushing it on an unwilling public. Market Analysis: Based on information from MRI+, current consumers of AT&T can be categorized based on large spikes in the index value. We specifically looked at Cellular Phone Service On Phone Respondent Personally Uses Most Often. Some of the largest spikes were in the Occupation categories, where Professional and Related Occupations, as well as Management, Business, and Financial Operations had index scores of 131 and 133, respectively. Another very noticeable category was Household Income, where $150,000+ had an index score of 141. Perhaps the most interesting portion of this research was the geographic demographics. AT&T had its lowest index in the Midwest Census Region, tied with North East at 89. This meant the Midwest was only 19.4% of AT&T’s total sales, and AT&T was the provider for only 20.9% of the Midwest. This is less than the Total percentage of 23.4%, representing roughly 55 million as a projected number of users out of roughly 235.6 million. According to other research, AT&T has roughly 34% of the cell phone provider market share, so only having a 20.9% share in the Midwest is a fairly disappointing difference. Ethnically speaking, whites are by far the chief users of AT&T, with around 79.1% of AT&T’s business being with the white demographic. A few other interesting takeaways from MRI+ were the popularity of Macworld Magazine with AT&T customers, with an index of 172. This is difficult to extrapolate from, however, because the number of subscribers was not very high in the grand scheme of things. Texas Monthly was another huge index spike, at 185. This is easy to make assumptions on, as we can say that AT&T likely has a huge customer base in Texas; especially considering AT&T is headquartered in Dallas. Another key takeaway from MRI+ is noticed under the Age categories. AT&T actually has it’s second lowest “down %” in the Age-‐18-‐24 category, at only 23.8%. Admittedly this is a smaller segment in terms of raw numbers than other age groups, it is our target market. For comparison, Verizon has higher percentages in almost every “% across.” According to MRI+, Verizon has about 30.6% of the Total market share. It also has about 30.2% of the Midwest’s cell phones. It often shares the same high index numbers in similar categories as AT&T, but often with a higher “% across” value, indicating dominance in that category, as with the Midwest category (“MRI Reporter”). Insights: Obviously this is a lot of statistics, but they can be summed up pretty easily. Essentially, AT&T has a great foothold in the south, but it’s certainly not so strong in the Midwest. Additionally, the MRI+ data shows AT&T only having a 23.4% market share, which contradicts the 34% reported elsewhere. It’s likely somewhere in between the two values, but it would definitely seem they are lagging behind Verizon. Another big point of focus is the low percentage of young users AT&T has, which is partly due to the fact that it’s a smaller pool of people to draw from, but it is our 32

target market, so it must be addressed. AT&T should be the brand that college kids want to switch to, and it should be the first carrier in their minds when their parents tell them they need their own plan. We need to make a campaign that will make AT&T look relevant and approachable, even though it’s a huge corporation. Competitive Analysis: AT&T’s two biggest competitors in terms of market share are Verizon and Sprint, with Verizon having a roughly equal market share and Sprint behind further behind the two. Based on our 19 qualitative interviews, Verizon far and away has a higher opinion in the minds of our target market, and seems to be the carrier of choice in the area. Sprint is really not seen to be on par with Verizon and AT&T. Both of these conclusions are drawn from questions regarding quality of coverage and just personal brand preference. We felt it would be most pertinent to research single-‐line plans from each of these three competitors, as they are the plans our target market will most likely be seeking. Verizon has a well-‐ advertised single-‐line option on their website, which shows you exactly what you’ll get in terms of voice and text allowance and data allowance, as well as showing the ability to upgrade in terms of data or additional lines. They also include maps of Verizon’s, AT&T’s, Sprint’s, and T-‐Mobile’s 4G LTE coverage, and Verizon’s is far superior in its breadth (“Single Line Cell Phone Plans”). To compare, Sprint initially requests your zip code before offering you plan options, and then shows you one option, their $60 Unlimited Plan, offering unlimited talk, text and data for $60 a month (“Sprint Cell Phone Plans: Talk, Text, Data and Simply Everything Plans”). This is the only choice and you are only given the option to add it to your cart. Finally, we can compare this to AT&T. AT&T is mainly based around the concept of “Mobile Share Value Plans.” In fact, it actually takes some searching to even locate the individual plans. They offer several different packages of data allowances to purchase, which can be added onto a voice and text plan. AT&T has a very confusing model on their website, and their step by step guide is fairly unintuitive. It also is probably the visually lease attractive of the three, and the website contains tons of legal jargon (“Family Cell Phone Plans – Mobile Share Value Plans from AT&T”). Insights: We covered a bit of the competition aspect above with looking at how AT&T and Verizon stacked up on MRI+, so we figure the plans themselves and the way they are shown are the aspects worth talking about here. AT&T has a horribly confusing website, and it’s hard to get a real idea of what plans are even available. There’s a huge amount of legal fine print throughout their main display of plans, and nothing is very simply explained. Luckily for AT&T, neither Verizon nor Sprint excels in their explanations either. It seems fair to conclude that Verizon and Sprint both have more visually attractive websites, but Sprint’s is overly simple and doesn’t offer many choices, and Verizon uses most of their space to show maps and comparisons, instead of spelling out the aspects of their plans. What is needed here is, without a doubt, clear explanations. I would personally go purchase a cell phone plan this instant if I could see a very transparent and elegant step by step guide to choosing exactly the plan that fits my needs. All of the companies suffer from the knowledge that cell phone plans are complicated, and so they either oversimplify important details (like Sprint), or they lose reader comprehension by overly explaining everything. Our campaign needs to fall somewhere in middle. It will be imperative that we use simple language to define complex terms, and just the right amount of visuals that don’t mislead or misinform our target market. 33

Works Cited AT&T Careers. N.p., 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://connect.att.jobs>. “AT&T Company Information." AT&T. N.p., 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. <http://www.att.com/gen/investor-‐relations?pid=5711>. AT&T Inc. 2013 Annual Report. Rep. AT&T Inc., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. <http://www.att.com/Investor/ATT_Annual/2013/downloads/att_ar_2013_highlights.pdf “AT&T Labs-‐-‐ About AT&T Labs -‐ Mission and Vision| AT&T Labs| AT&T." AT&T Labs -‐ About AT&T Labs -‐ Mission and Vision| AT&T Labs| AT&T. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014. <http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/about/mission.html>. "AT&T Mobile Share® Value Plans." Family Cell Phone Plans – Mobile Share Value Plans from AT&T. AT&T, 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. Carew, Sinead. Top three U.S. telecom carriers report quarterly results. 26 April 2012. Telecommunications Online. 24 September 2014 <http://www.telecomengine.com/node/56500>. "Cell Phones, Cell Phone Plans, & Wireless Accessories from AT&T." Cell Phones, Cell Phone Plans, & Wireless Accessories from AT&T. AT&T, 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. Fierce Wireless. Grading the top 10 U.S. carriers in the first quarter of 2013. 15 May 2013. FierceMarkets. 24 September 2014 <http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-‐ reports/grading-‐top-‐10-‐us-‐carriers-‐first-‐quarter-‐2013>. "Home| History| AT&T." Home| History| AT&T. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014. <http://www.corp.att.com/history/>. Imtiaz, Asif. "AT&T & Verizon Shares Similar Market Share ." US Finance Post. N.p., June 2014. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://usfinancepost.com/att-‐and-‐verizon-‐shares-‐similar-‐ market-‐share-‐19423.html>. "MRI Reporter." MRI Reporter. MRI+, 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. N/A, Andrew. Personal interview. 18 Sept. 2014. “Single Line Cell Phone Plans.” Single Line Cell Phone Plan from Verizon. Verizon, 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. “Sprint Cell Phone Plans: Talk, Text, Data and Simply Everything Plans.” The Best Deal in Data. Sprint, 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. “Verizon’s Top Spot Threatened As AT&T Catches Up.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 5 June 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. "Wireless Carrier Market Share Subscriptions United States 2011-‐2014 | Statistic." Statista. N.p., 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. 34

"Your Wireless Carrier Is Gouging You and We Have the Numbers to Prove It." Digital Trends. Digital Trends, 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.

Appendix – Response Cards

Response Cards – Total: 71 NAME

PHONE

Jacob Allen Cameron Bruegger Ryan Ainshe Taylor Hanson Santiago Pardo Michaela Sullivan Nate Smith

402-740-0088 308-631-8797 402-853-1151 402-440-5460 308-370-0539 402-779-1752

jakeallen17@aol.com cbruegg989@gmail.com Raynamslie96@gmail.com taylorhanson94@yahoo.com spardo@krgi.com mickey14567@com.net

Emene Gifford Tanner Gach Madison Nichols Morgan McCulbugh Luke Billington Karissa Malone Hannah Swanson Kyler James Larkin Laura Munoz Abby Mcclure

402-440-2296 402-215-4747 720-951-2946 402-657-0273 402-304-6115 402-853-3876 308-258-3431 402-239-3212 719-466-1513 602-690-9420 402-802-8806

Muhammad Hazmi

402-405-5272

Muahammadhazmi@huskers.unl.edu

402-429-3840 402-440-3019

mararose782@yahoo.com

David Mor Mara Schwarting Jade M. Ahmad Zahid Michael Burns Joselyn Wojtalewise Laura Olson Molly Matt Ned Doley

314-803-9924 402-213-1471 402-253-5817 680-7783 4-2=709-9619

Ibnrazak95@gmail.com michaelanthonyburns@hotmail.com josbball@cox.net lauraolson016@gmail.com nedkoley@yahoo.com

Appendix – Press Releases CONTACT: ADPR Agency 283 University of Nebraska-‐Lincoln

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 26, 2014

Lincoln, Nebraska Media Contact: Jenna Brende Phone Number: (605) 370-‐2996 E-‐Mail: jenna.brende@huskers.unl.edu

AT&T PROMOTED AT UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN AS PART OF #GOODFORIT CAMPAIGN Lincoln, Nebraska – Agency 283, a student-run marketing agency, at University of Nebraska-Lincoln has developed a marketing campaign to promote AT&T’s cell service company to their school and community. The campaign is designed to broaden the perception of AT&T as a cellphone provider as well as a company to work, while positioning AT&T as a lifestyle brand. The campaign will feature a “Good for it” themed AT&T Takeover at the Union on Tuesday, November 18, beginning around noon and ending around 4:00 p.m. AT&T employees will be present along with the students to talk about the benefits of going with AT&T as a provider as well as an employer. Direct AT&T products featured include iPads and the It Can Wait wheel-and-pedal kit. UNL’s DJ Club and Breaking Dancing Club will perform at the event and service dogs will be present. The point of these appearances is to notify students that AT&T is “good for it” in all kinds of ways—whether it be to reduce stress or to provide reliability and entertainment for students. An iPad Mini and other prizes will be raffled off at the Student Union as well. Students will be appreciate the laidback atmosphere and will be able to get information on career opportunities as well as cell phone service information. The campaign is part of the AT&T Campus Brand Challenge, a program designed to give students unique, realworld business experience by asking them to design and implement an integrated marketing communications plan. “It’s such a cool experience, I never would have expected to work with a company like AT&T in this capacity. Hopefully we do well in the competition, because we have certainly put in a ton of work on this campaign. I’m very lucky to have had this opportunity in ADPR 283, and I have to thank our professor Amy Struthers, as well as EdVenture Partners and AT&T, for giving us this opportunity,” said Nate Hofmann, one of the Account Executives for Agency 283. Each of the six schools across the country participating in the AT&T Campus Brand Challenge are competing against one another for the opportunity to present their ideas to AT&T executives at the term’s conclusion. For further inquires regarding the AT&T Campus Brand Challenge, please contact Jenna Brende at (605) 3702996. About AT&T AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and internationally. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s largest 4G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile Internet, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the 38

most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T |DIRECTV brands. The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT. © 2012 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. 4G not available everywhere. AT&T, the AT&T logo

and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. About EdVenture Partners EdVenture Partners is an organization dedicated to developing innovative industry-‐education partnership programs. The objective of such programs is to provide hands-‐on, real-‐world experience to students in tandem with providing marketing solutions and recruiting access at colleges and universities to clients. EdVenture Partners has designed and managed programs at over 1,000 campuses in North America and internationally. Find out more at www.edventurepartners.com.

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Appendix – PR Hits

A screenshot of AT&T’s internal employee newsfeed, which list our event made.

Screenshot of photos that were posted to social media

IT’S COMING...

TAKEO V ER

NAME PHONE EMAIL

goodforit

NAME PHONE EMAIL