• by Danielle Oster , December 5, 2024

AT&T is closing out a difficult year with a sentimental holiday campaign built around the message that “A Voice Can Change Everything.”

“In an AT&T survey, 76% of people said they have saved voicemails, videos or video messages from loved ones that are living and who have passed away for nostalgic reasons, cherishing the sound of their voice as a comforting memory,” the company wrote in a campaign announcement on its website.. “That’s why our new holiday ad focuses on the power of voice.”

According to AT&T, 89% of the saved voicemail messages were from immediate family members.

“A Voice Can Change Everything” opens from the perspective of a person lying in bed and petting their cat -- with bare, snow-capped trees outside their window. When they press play on their phone, a message from their parents begins. The scene then shifts to other people playing messages from loved ones on their phones, as the message “Sometimes, hearing a voice is the best gift” appears onscreen. In the last scene, an older voice intones “I would love to keep in touch a little more,” prompting its recipient to return the call.

The campaign debuted just ahead of Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, and will run through Jan. 8. AT&T worked with agency partners BBDO, Critical Mass, and Dieste on “A Voice Can Change Everything.” The ad  is running in its 30-second iteration on linear TV, and in 15 and 39-second versions across digital and streaming platforms, with further support across social platforms including TikTok, Meta, and Instagram.

The sentimental holiday campaign follows AT&T agreeing in September to pay a $13 million settlement to end a Federal Communications Commission investigation into its handling of a data breach last year. Issues around data security continued to plague the company this year, as well. In July, the company disclosed a data breach it claims to have learned about in April, which involved call and phone records for “nearly all” its cell customers. The company also faced a crisis in February when it experienced a nationwide outage which the FCC said blocked around 92 million voice calls -- including  some 25,000 attempts to reach 911.