• by Larissa Faw , October 18, 2019

UK telecommunications giant BT is launching its biggest brand campaign in more than 20 years. 

The effort reflects on the changing nature of communication and BT’s focus on improving connectivity.

This "Beyond Limits" campaign is led by Saatchi & Saatchi London and supported by other Publicis Groupe agencies, as well as AnalogFolk and PosterScope, among others. 

BT’s media-buying agency, Essence, is responsible for the multimillion-dollar TV placements for the campaign.

“Our presence and scale across the UK means we have an opportunity and responsibility to go further than ever to connect more people and businesses across the UK, help them make the most out of the technology and equip them with the skills they need to shape the future," says Marc Allera, CEO, BT’s consumer division. 

The effort also includes a sprucing up of BT’s brand designed to portray a more modern aesthetic. The new look features the color indigo with contrasting brightness with new pink hues. The new look will be rolled out and featured across BT’s entire digital and physical presence.

This weekend will kick off the external-focused messaging with an ITV network takeover on October 19 and 20. BT will unveil the new logo and feature interpretations of it created by children from local schools using coding robots.

A new TV ad will riff on Charles Dickens’ classic novel, The Tale Of Two Cities, and will follow the story of a young girl as she travels through modern Britain to reach her classroom of the future.

An experiential OOH activation will debut October 23 in the center of London's iconic Piccadilly Circus, inviting children (on break from school) to develop their own avatars using code. These avatars will then light up on a Piccadilly Circus billboard as a way to suggest BT’s commitment to inspire younger generations.

BT is also introducing a philanthropic component with the "Skills for Tomorrow" initiative to provide digital skills training for 10 million schoolchildren, families and businesses across the UK.