AT&T launched its “just OK” campaign and partnership with the March Madness block party during the 2018 College Football Playoffs, claiming they are the #1 network to beat. They took a unique approach to make their message clear amongst viewers; by utilizing the word “ok” they made it known that their service is far above the mediocracy of the word. Their commercials and media use irreversible situations such as surgery and being tattooed to imply that no one would knowingly choose an ok doctor or tattoo artist to perform any actions on their body and the same should apply to cellular service. Not all scenarios are as extreme, some take a more lighthearted and witty approach to convey their message. One of their more lighthearted approaches was when AT&T used a series of basketball commentators to casually show the importance of more than just ok commentators. These commercials bring a funny perspective to why their service is better than their competitors. Despite this success, there is confusion when it comes to the alignment of the block party. There is no cohesiveness or clear meaning to why AT&T would sponsor March Madness. The objectives of this campaign to say the least is very unclear. It is unknown as to the reasoning behind a cellular service sponsoring a basketball competition which is directly linked with their media usage, or lack thereof. Apart from the televised commercials, AT&T has put little to no effort into their media presence. Although they could have put more effort into their advertisements, AT&T’s revenue increased by 2.4% which is above the national inflation rate of 1.75% proving they were able to convert some cellular service users to their brand.

One of the biggest, if not the biggest issue with the “Just OK is Not OK” campaign and the block party is the objectives are unclear, nor are they connected. The objective for the “Just OK is Not OK” campaign is to convert customers over to AT&T by subtly showing they are bigger and better than their competitors saying they aren’t the bad tattoo artist or uncertified surgeon but are more than that. This objective aligns with AT&T’s brand, but it does not align with their objective in the Block Party. AT&T put its name on the Block Party but failed to do any marketing that would build awareness for the event to increase ticket sales pre-event, nor did they have a clear objective. This was shown through their lack of mentioning who was performing or what would be happening at the event. There was only one picture posted a day before. It was difficult to decide what AT&T was hoping to accomplish during their campaign because there was little to no marketing done for the event. We concluded the only objective AT&T could have with their Block Party is to create brand awareness. This decision is confusing because AT&T is already a well-known company. Not only would the decision to simply sponsor an event for brand awareness not make a ton of sense but it also does not align with the other campaigns they were running at that time.

AT&T would greatly benefit from aligning their campaign objectives. In the days following the AT&T Block Party, Coca-Cola and Capital One both host similar events. AT&T could easily promote the “Just OK is Not OK” campaign through its March Madness Block Party event by simply putting on a bigger and better show than Capital One and Coca-Cola. This would prove they are indeed the biggest and the best in all aspects and it would be easier for consumers to make that connection. AT&T has the best Block Party perfectly connects its message of being the best with the March Madness Final Four. This would illustrate the reasons customers should convert to AT&T while also aligning their messages and remaining on-brand with each of their campaigns.

According to our research the aim of AT&T’s messaging through the “Just OK” campaign, was to position themselves ahead of their competition in the minds of consumers. Their goal was not to sell merchandise, rather the message was centered around the awareness of their 5G capabilities. AT&T’s commercials proved to be relatable because they were funny and lighthearted. People were able to relate to them regardless if it was because of a just ok tattoo, or a just ok surgeon. Of course, no one would purposely choose the “OK” option of anything so why would they choose anyone other than AT&T? Playing on this idea was a strategic tactic to use when trying to raise awareness of their brand. AT&T utilized the fact that they are the biggest network according to root metrics to validate their claim of being the best network. We decided to do our research on their bold claim and discovered that they are second to Verizon. Their message, therefore, can be perceived as untrue and misleading.

As far as AT&T’s messaging pertaining solely to the block party, one could say it was just ok. Their reach via social media was low and their commercials could have been better executed. One of the ways we felt they could create better brand awareness and identity, is by associating themselves with one or two celebrities as was done by Capital One. Because of the strategic placement of Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson, and Spike Lee in Capital One media they became synonymous with the brand, especially during March Madness. AT&T could identify more with the public if they started their campaign earlier to build awareness of the event and its activities as well as aligning themselves with a familiar face.  

AT&T’s media usage was irrelevant to its success in the “Just OK” campaign. They did not use media to reach out to customers before their event, rather they simply posted a few pictures after the Block Party. They had little to no media presence across all platforms ranging from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat. The only real media usage we were able to find was a live stream of the event. AT&T is a telecommunications company could have used their resources to their advantage when promoting their event through media.

Going forward we have concluded that it would be most beneficial to use the goal-setting framework known as S.M.A.R.T. to guide actions and ensure they lead to real business results. S.M.A.R.T. consists of specific, measurable, attainable, relevance and time. AT&T should be clear and specific with all aspects regarding their media reach. Who is AT&T’s target audience (college students/family environment)? What type of engagement are they seeking? Does “increase engagement” mean they want 100 new followers or 10,000? AT&T making their social media goals specific helps track progress and measure success. Going forward, is the goal measurable? Every goal needs some kind of metric. “Just Ok is not Ok” is a great concept, but it’s not a goal unless there is a way to measure that improvement. To solve this they could utilize likes and comments as metrics and make sure that they are attainable. Building brand awareness leading up to the Block Party will help to increase these numbers. To increase the relevance AT&T could introduce a hashtag such as #JustOkayIsNotOkay. Influencers could be poked fun at for their “just ok NBA careers” then reflect on their “more than just okay” college careers. (i.e. Christian Laettner, Adam Morrison, Greg Oden, Jay Williams). Lastly, goals should have a set deadline that runs concurrently with the ‘Road to Final Four’ in March 2020.

            Although we did discover that the AT&T campaign could have been executed more effectively, according to Zoomph (an advanced social media analytics tool) the “Just OK” campaign has the highest impression value despite not having the highest reach or activity. The campaign reached an impression value of $358k and a total activity of 19k (3rd behind Nike and Under Armour) posts which makes each post worth $18.84. The campaign reached 12M people which ranks 5th among campaigns that ran during March Madness (Google was the highest with 23M) (Blosat, 2019 Top sponsors ranked by impression value). The contribution of this success was that they had headliners such as Chainsmokers and partnered with social media influencers such as Rachel DeMita. Partnering with an expert in this field proved to be more beneficial than having a celebrity contributing to a high ROI. Despite not reaching as many people as other campaigns they were able to effectively convert those posts into more sales. If the campaign could use the same techniques with pop-culture icons, they could increase their reach while maintaining their impression value which will increase overall revenue for the company. 

When reviewing the previous AT&T Block Parties, the campaign did a superb job of obtaining popular artists to perform. In 2018, Jason Aldean who has had an honorable Country Music career opened the Friday night block party on the AT&T stage in San Antonio, Texas. In 2019, the Grammy award-winning group the Chain-Smokers opened the AT&T stage in Minneapolis. This year’s 2020 NCAA Final Four is scheduled to take place in Atlanta, Georgia. The New York Times (2009) called Atlanta “hip-hop’s center of gravity” in which the city is home to some of music’s most legendary performers (Caramanica, 2009, para 1). Although the most listened genre of music in the state of Georgia was listed as country, it would be preferred if the campaign focused on booking artists relatable to millennials (Resinkoff, 2016, Digital Music News, section 1). A March Madness study conducted by Wallet-hub projections and data collected by the NCAA states, “56% of millennials are willing to miss a work deadline to watch a March Madness game” (Kiernan, 2019, para 3). Last year March Madness brought 94,000 people to Minneapolis, so this year they can look to increase those numbers. With Atlanta's rich history for culture and music, we deemed it necessary to recommend that homegrown artist be chosen to perform for the AT&T's block party. This can boost attendance by attracting non-basketball fans to participate in the block party by bringing a cultural connection with legendary artists and their fans. AT&T can benefit by appearing knowledgeable, respectful and appreciative of Atlanta’s culture which increases the brand perception of AT&T and the NCAA by connecting the culture of Atlanta with multiple generations, thus connecting them with their brand. 

With the AT&T block party being the first event to kick off March Madness, we stressed the importance of AT&T creating an environment where consumers experience more than a "just ok" event. Being first means that they are not only introducing the tournament to the fans but also the city. AT&T can utilize this event to make a statement by selecting homegrown multigenerational artists to set the tone for the NCAA 2020 Final Four weekend. This will cause fans to be more excited about the upcoming tournament as well as what the city has to offer.

As we reflect on the “Just OK” campaign and their connection to the Block Party it is evident that several aspects were overall lacking. Their objective to portray that they are the best network was not proven statistically nor was it backed by their campaign. Their messaging was vague and left room for speculation and their media usage was slim to none. This campaign was very disconnected from March Madness. From an outsider's perspective, it is difficult to understand why a company such as AT&T would be interested in an event like March Madness. The connection was never made, and it is apparent that AT&T did not prioritize this event. The “Just OK is not OK” slogan could have been used to their advantage in numerous ways. One of the most important ways AT&T can show that they are better than their competitors is by conducting a stellar kickoff Block Party that incorporates innovative technology. Because AT&T is a telecommunications company, they should raise the bar for technology usage in their show. AT&T even with their subpar marketing techniques converted the largest number of customers to their brand resulting in them having the most successful campaign in terms of ROI. If AT&T would incorporate even just a few of the strategies explained in this paper they would be able to achieve, an even greater amount returns which would come from the Block Party being an overall better experience.

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