• by Aaron Baar , May 19, 2016

The summer driving season is almost here, but that doesn’t mean kids in the backseat should dread the family road trip. 

AT&T is trying to take away the pain of “Are we there yet?” by doubling down on its commitment to the connected car. The company is launching a new plan for current customers to add their cars and an accompanying digital advertising campaign, a first for the brand.

“We thought this was the time to get the word out,” Christy Jones, Director of Marketing Communications for AT&T, tells Marketing Daily. “As school is about to get out, we thought now was a good time to talk about wifi and the connected car.”

The effort, from BBDO and Organic, takes the kids’ point of view, showing them being actually excited about having to take a family road trip. “We got stuck in traffic; it was awesome,” says one. “I haven’t rolled my eyes once,” says another. The spot asserts turning one’s car into a wifi hotspot turns it into a “whole new ride.”

The spot will run on digital and social channels through July 5 to take advantage of the vacation-planning season, Jones says. “Since this is our first foray into [connected-car] advertising, we wanted to test the waters, and we felt digital was the best place for that,” she says. 

According to the company, AT&T already has more than 8 million cars using its network and has relationships with 19 car brands to provide connectivity. The new plans allow current customers to add their cars for $40/month for unlimited data or $10/month for 1 GB of data.