Back to School: Creating Episodic Storytelling Moment to Support Sales
Challenge
Back-to-School is a huge selling season in retail and the wireless industry is no different. It’s also a very noisy time with lots of brands flooding the market with their deals making it nearly impossible to garner media attention with straight product sales promotions and offers.
Approach
My team led communications for the wireless business unit, tasked with generating news attention for Back-to-School. To position AT&T as the ideal choice for kids' first cell phones, we targeted parents and their decision-making challenges. Collaborating with the CSR team and leveraging their relationship with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), we developed a proactive strategy that leveraged an online questionnaire to help parents determine if their child was ready for a cell phone.
We built a content series that included blogs, influencer and branded social media posts plus media pitches with consumer tips and resources for parents. We positioned local AT&T retail sales leaders as credible experts, securing interviews on local morning shows and more. Pairing product promotions with data-driven advice helped AT&T stand out in a saturated media market.
Results
AT&T ranked first for back-to-school hits and impressions, earning 399.4M impressions over a two-month period. Coverage began in July with local broadcast pieces featuring AT&T’s PhoneReady quiz for parents in partnership with American Association of Pediatrics.
Later coverage consisted of back-to-school sale roundups, featuring AT&T’s smartphone, smartwatch and tech accessory promotions. For comparison, top two competitors earned 283.4M impressions and 72.8M impressions during same period.
Owned Content and Secured Coverage
AT&T: AAP and AT&T Launch Free Digital Tools to Help Families
AT&T: Ace Back to School with Great Deals on Android Devices
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