AT&T BUSINESS

Historically, AT&T Business heavily focused on products benefits and offers which did very little to create differentiation from competitors. In 2023, with the launch of the Next Level Network campaign, we shifted to tell compelling stories that establish AT&T as a reliable partner that will help businesses through their toughest challenges. We continued this process with the launch of Sleep with Rain campaign in 2024, and results showed that it greatly increased brand perception and differentiation. With ever-evolving best practices, we were able to show to our clients that right now we’re in a phase where people expect to be entertained rather than be told explicit product benefits or prices—If the value of the offer isn’t something obscenely great that no one else is offering, it’s just noise.

SLEEP WITH RAIN

By the end of 2023, many small business were faced with rising inflation, tough competition, and an overall slump—optimism was at an all time low. As an evolution of the thrilling Next Level Network campaign in the previous year where we showed business leads being pros of their industry, we sought to change things up this time around. We pushed to uplift outlooks with relatable humor, and tell a story of a business in the making by people who frankly don’t have their shit together, and champion AT&T as the ultimate partner to have right from the start. So we made Rainn Wilson and his friends to make a small business. Because if this collective of misfits, notorious for being terrible at running one, can launch a real business, anyone can.

We started with ideating what business our talent will create. Upon research of our talent, we saw wellness being top of mind. We then had the idea — what if Rainn created a pillow with built-in speakers and ASMR/guided meditation that will help people get the sleep? What if he called it, Sleep with Rain? Then, the entire campaign built around it.

We knew fans have been waiting for a reunion for years, being fans ourselves. We had to make sure that we do this right, and not be dismissed as another ad. This had to be big. REAL BIG. Our first challenge was to properly tease fans for what’s to come and get them hyped and how to make it believable and feel authentic. We launched a :30 teaser during Masters tournament and then soon followed with a series of social activations. We put Rainn on LinkedIn—because what better place for us to disrupt for AT&T Business than a platform where people do business? With a humble post of Rainn asking the community for tips, we earned many organic engagements and created a natural preview of the business he’s venturing into. Then, we slammed in loud with more revealing teasers of this reunion on their main social channels where they have an existing following. Internet went wild across Twitter and Reddit—we weren’t even on those platforms but our content made it out there by fans, and not just here in the US, but globally!