NEW YORK — AT&T has hung up on the ad wars, dumping its ad campaign responding to rival Verizon’s slams on its wireless phone coverage.
AT&T’s new “Rethink Possible” sales pitch touts grand visions for untethered Internet access and avoids tearing down its top competitor. It could mean a truce to a battle that experts say had no clear winner.
The new campaign, which debuted last weekend during the Masters golf tournament, tells people AT&T can help them simultaneously talk on their phones and surf the Internet or go from room to room to watch recorded television.
It represents a strategy shift that positions the company as being more than just a wireless carrier. AT&T wants to be thought of as a company with many ways to improve people’s lives beyond phones.
The five ads mix whimsical fantasy — childlike drawings prancing through a city — and voiceovers urging people to “Explore, try, do.” They will replace a series that has been running since the fall starring actor Luke Wilson that answered Verizon Wireless’ criticisms of the breadth of AT&T’s 3G network with some of its own. The Associated Press
