Sure, everybody loves AT&T’s “It’s Not Complicated” campaign, featuring that straight-faced guy grilling eager kids about this and that. But, no brand campaign could have
singlehandedly righted the telecom’s ship after several difficult years, according to Esther Lee, SVP of brand marketing and advertising at AT&T. “It would be great to say that our
marketing and branding is totally responsible for [AT&T’s] turnaround, but… a lot of it has to do with improvements in our network,” Lee told attendees of OMMA Global on Monday
morning. “That’s gone through a major transformation.” If you don’t recall, not long after the first iPhone debuted, AT&T became synonymous with dropped calls, and
generally dreadful cellphone service. For several years, “Things weren’t so great,” Lee admitted. Taking some of the credit for the company’s return to respectability, Lee
noted: “Of course, there’s also branding.” (She also gave a big shoutout to agency partner BBDO.) Why did the “It’s Not Complicated” campaign work? For one, it was
funny, Lee said. But, more importantly, she added, it gave AT&T free license to talk about the network’s strengths in a straightforward manner.
