• by Bill McCloskey , February 5, 2002

I’m one of those people who watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. My son had to tell me five minutes before game time what teams were actually playing. I was at least halfway into Bono’s number before I realized that neither team hailed from New Orleans. I did think it was great, though, that the Super Bowl celebrated the Good Old American Spirit by featuring Good Old American musical groups like Paul McCartney and U2.

Nevertheless, they tell me it was a good game. I wish I could say the same for this year’s crop of commercials. And perhaps there is no better example of the inexplicable disconnect between offline and online media than the AT&T Wireless mLife teaser campaign.

It is not my job to criticize offline creative but I do have a few passing comments starting with the fact that most of the people scoffing down Buffalo Wings and beer in my house thought it was an ad for Metlife, as did a number of ad professionals judging by some of the discussion lists I subscribe to.

I did figure the ads were for some mobile service or other, and I was taken in because I was expecting some exciting new mobile service that would actually work! Something that would provide some incredible new service that would change my life! When I realized it was just an ad for AT&T Wireless... well, all I can say is that it was a great ad. The agency that did it has a lock on the Sow’s Ear account.

Let me get back to that in a second, but first let's talk about the disconnect. According to the aforementioned discussion lists, apparently many of those people who tried to access the mLife website during the game Sunday night were out of luck. The site was completely jammed. Now, I ask you: wouldn’t it have made sense to spend at least some to the cash from one of those commercials on enough servers to handle the Super Bowl crowd that wanted to see what the heck was being pitched?

When are people going to get it? Consumers go to the Web to get more info on something they just saw on TV. And yet the Internet is still considered by advertisers to be a secondary vehicle (even tertiary - there were a lot of mLife print ads the next day.) It is like advertising a sale and then closing the store for inventory.

I went to the site today to check it out and was surprised (shocked is more like it) to discover that there was no attempt to connect the website and the humor and messaging developed in the offline campaign. I mean, they could have at least re-purposed the TV commercial. But none of the offbeat branding that worked well in the offline campaign was carried over online. Why?

Why have advertisers and agencies not realized that there is a direct flow from TV to the Web and back again? It's a symbiotic relationship. But mLife's sweet promise of a better life suggested by the TV commercial devolved once the website was hit. People said, "Oh, it's just an AT&T cell phone. What about it is going to change my life?" Well, one day (but certainly not today) you will be able to use your cell phone like cash (you mean like an ATM card?), to send text messages (why would I want to send a text message when I have a phone? Maybe when I’m trying to catch up on some phone calls at the Opera), why I’ll even be able to send color photos one day (you mean like email?).

But besides these AMAZING features that sound like they were pulled from the 1939 World’s Fair, it’s the same old stuff: An indecipherable calling plan. An indecipherable calling area map. Contracts that lock you into years of indentured servitude. The same old mCrap.

And here’s a couple of fun things: I called Sprint PCS, who is my current carrier. The entire account system was down for “upgrading” making it impossible for current Sprint customers to cancel their service or check their accounts against the AT&T promotion.

I also called AT&T. In order to switch to AT&T Wireless I would have to give up my current cell phone (which I paid a few hundred bucks for) and give up my cell phone number (which is listed on all my business cards and marketing materials).

Take my mLife. Please!

-- Bill McCloskey is Founder and CEO of Emerging Interest, an organization dedicated to educating the Internet advertising and marketing industry about rich media and other emerging technologies.