NEW YORK: AT&T, the telecoms giant, is seeking to pursue more nuanced forms of segmentation as part of an attempt to reduce its reliance on "spray and pray" messaging.
Lori Lee, Senior Executive Vice President/Global Marketing Officer at AT&T, reported that one key point of focus going forwards will be taking an increasingly targeted approach to communications.
"We are one brand that spreads across multiples organisations, customer segments, uses [and] products. But we just still do too much of what I call 'spray and pray'," she said at a recent conference. (For more, including further details of the brand's strategy, read Warc's exclusive report: AT&T's digital mandate for change.)
"With the amount of data that's available – first-party data, third-party data, bringing it together – we just have to be much more segmented. And we shouldn't be offering something up that is generic across multiple segments."
Building on that theme, Lee suggested the Dallas-based enterprise needed to move beyond legacy thinking in this area to better engage younger audiences.
"If I had to drill down one layer further, I would say it is millennials [that is the main target] for us. We are a 140-year-old company. And … we do so many things the same way because it used to work.
"We really have to segment. We have to deliver the right message to the right customer that delivers value for them, and we really have to engage through platforms to hit millennials."
On a similar note, AT&T – which also owns satellite television provider DirecTV – is looking to expand its use of different media channels.
"We have been, historically, very linear-dependent. And I think what we've been trying to do is push, push, push more to utilise all technologies, and have campaigns that integrate any kind of medium," said Lee.
AT&T has considerable evidence to support this evolution in its approach, given the digital trends that are reshaping the marketing ecosystem are simultaneously transforming its own business.
"All the trends that we see as advertisers we also see in our core business. Mobility, video – more than 60% of all the traffic that runs on our network around the globe is video," said Lee.
"Those trends feed right into advertising and what we do – as well as all the social platforms."
Lori Lee, Senior Executive Vice President/Global Marketing Officer at AT&T, reported that one key point of focus going forwards will be taking an increasingly targeted approach to communications.
"We are one brand that spreads across multiples organisations, customer segments, uses [and] products. But we just still do too much of what I call 'spray and pray'," she said at a recent conference. (For more, including further details of the brand's strategy, read Warc's exclusive report: AT&T's digital mandate for change.)
"With the amount of data that's available – first-party data, third-party data, bringing it together – we just have to be much more segmented. And we shouldn't be offering something up that is generic across multiple segments."
Building on that theme, Lee suggested the Dallas-based enterprise needed to move beyond legacy thinking in this area to better engage younger audiences.
"If I had to drill down one layer further, I would say it is millennials [that is the main target] for us. We are a 140-year-old company. And … we do so many things the same way because it used to work.
"We really have to segment. We have to deliver the right message to the right customer that delivers value for them, and we really have to engage through platforms to hit millennials."
On a similar note, AT&T – which also owns satellite television provider DirecTV – is looking to expand its use of different media channels.
"We have been, historically, very linear-dependent. And I think what we've been trying to do is push, push, push more to utilise all technologies, and have campaigns that integrate any kind of medium," said Lee.
AT&T has considerable evidence to support this evolution in its approach, given the digital trends that are reshaping the marketing ecosystem are simultaneously transforming its own business.
"All the trends that we see as advertisers we also see in our core business. Mobility, video – more than 60% of all the traffic that runs on our network around the globe is video," said Lee.
"Those trends feed right into advertising and what we do – as well as all the social platforms."
Data sourced from Warc
