• by Aaron Baar , February 3, 2011

Business people are still people. And they respond to the same emotional tactics and approaches as the consumer segment (they are consumers after all).

Accordingly, AT&T is using a more aspirational (and less technical) approach in a new multimillion-dollar B2B advertising campaign that launched this week. The print and television effort broadens the definition of "network" for business consumers.

"For the past couple of years as a company, we have built and been executing a strategy that helps us transform what we can do for our customers," Alicia Dietsch, vice president of AT&T business marketing communications, tells Marketing Daily. "We've come far enough in that journey that our messaging to the marketing wasn't keeping pace with what we deliver with the market today."

"This is the network," the television commercial begins, "a living, breathing intelligence that's helping business rethink how to do business." Visuals show packages being moved from Tokyo to New York while the voiceover speaks of inventory being "taught to learn" so that it can get products to where they're needed most. Another visual shows children buying products from vending machines, which "has a voice, so they can tell headquarters when they need refilling."

The network also boasts financial professionals able to assess investment risk from various locations and doctors able to check medical records even when they're away from an office. "It's more than advanced technology," concludes the voiceover. "It's the AT&T network. A network of possibilities, creating and integrated solutions, helping business and the world work."

"What we're trying to do is move away from that notion of pure connection," Dietsch says. "The network is this community and ecosystem that is all about innovation and transformation. It's about expanding the network form being an infrastructure of ports and pipes to something that's more communal."

Though specifically designed for business-to-business clients (which account for around half of AT&T's overall revenue), the new effort takes some cues from the company's consumer-oriented "Rethink Possible" campaign.

"Those two concepts are very closely linked," Dietsch says. "If you think about us having established the brand aspiration of 'Rethink Possible,' which is about the notion of limitless potential, that can be either as a person, or a person who is making those decisions for a company."

The print and television campaign (which also includes a dedicated microsite) will run in heavily tracked business publications and programming, Dietsch says. On television, that means a lot of news and morning-show programming, as well as sports. While not a sponsor of the National Football League, AT&T will have a presence "in and around" the Super Bowl (which is physically happening near AT&T's Dallas headquarters) this weekend, she says.