• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, April 4, 2018

This afternoon, AT&T will launch a new series of commercials for its Edge-to-Edge Intelligence marketing effort touting the communications company’s range of services and devices that business customers and consumers need. 

The new ads will show up within coverage of the Masters Tournament. That major golf event will be carried by CBS television and CBS and Masters digital outlets but the ads will debut on one two-hour pre-tournament event to be shown on ESPN, beginning at 3 p.m. AT&T has been a sponsor on the telecasts since 2005.

AT&T will also use the tournament to debut two new ads that use a golf theme to address the issue distracted driving issue. The four light-touch AT&T Business commercials are an extension of its ongoing “The Power of &” campaign showing how, at a factory, hospital or in retail, AT&T is part of the solution. 

Displaying examples of its Edge-to-Edge prowess, the retail ad shows a wide-footed, tuxedoed hotel guest who realizes as he dresses that he didn’t pack his shoes. He finds a pair online available at a store nearby via his cellphone, and because of real-time inventory, sees the three remaining pairs have just been reduced by one. He hurries in to make the purchase. 

The idea is to show how AT&T services can help in all kinds of ways, from “end to end,” said Sandra Howard, vice president-corporate brand marketing. “While other companies might be able to compete with us on specific products, our breadth of services sets us apart.”  Each of the spots ends with the voiceover trailing off, adding more ways AT&T’s can help, picking “the power of &” theme.

Also in the AT&T mix are two new commercials for the “It Can Wait” campaign to get consumers to refrain from using their cell phones while driving. Those distracted driving commercials feature 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth.

In those ads, Spieth shows how golf terms like the “gimme” (for a no-brainer putt just a few inches from the hole) or “laying up” (taking a safe shot rather than risking a problem like a water hazard) relate to distracted driving. 

“You may think that quickly checking a message is the same as a ‘gimme’ putt, but it’s not,” said Ryan Luckey, AVP-corporate brand marketing said on an AT&T blog. “On the golf course, ‘laying up’ is the smart, safe choice, just like ignoring your phone while driving.” 

AT&T also released two new virtual reality videos that are a more hands-on way for drivers to experience the quick dangers of using a mobile phone while driving. The company claims that through various venues 23 million people have signed AT&T sponsored pledges to stop using their phones while driving. (AT&T also says nine of ten drivers admit they’ve used a cell phone while on the road.)