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AT&T 'Hands' Advertising Campaign Voted 'America's Favorite Magazine Ad' by Consumers

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 July 2009, 15:12 CDT

DALLAS, July 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Consumers have put their hands together for "Hands," a popular AT&T* ad campaign that touts the company's international wireless leadership, by voting it "America's Favorite Magazine Ad" in a new contest sponsored by Magazine Publishers of America.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090701/CG41193)

The "America's Favorite Magazine Ad" competition is a spin-off of Magazine Publishers of America's prestigious Kelly Awards, which recognizes outstanding magazine ad campaigns as determined by leaders in the advertising industry. "America's Favorite Magazine Ad" was created to give consumers an opportunity to vote for their own favorites based on creative excellence. AT&T's "Hands" beat out campaigns by 26 other leading brands.

In the "Hands" campaign, created by BBDO, human hands are intricately painted and posed to depict iconic images representing countries around the world that fall within AT&T's international footprint. The result is stunning imagery that draws viewers into the artwork while communicating AT&T's brand proposition of having more phones that work in more places.

Acclaimed artist Guido Daniele of Milan, Italy paints the hands, a process that can take up to a full day. Examples have included hands painted and arranged to become the Great Wall of China; the Rialto Bridge (Venice, Italy); elephants (India); tulips (Netherlands) and an exotic bird among trees (Costa Rica), among many other executions. In total, more than 17 iterations have been released since the campaign debuted in 2008.

The "Hands" ads have been heralded by consumers and the public throughout the life of the campaign. Last year, for example, AT&T provided huge reprints of "Hands" images at the request of a Georgia camp for children with cancer that was dressing its cabins for their summer theme of "Around the World."

"It's one thing to cut through the clutter. It's quite another to inspire people to stop and stare at your message, or to go a step further and write you to request copies -- both of which we know are a possibility when people see our 'Hands' ads," said Daryl Evans, vice president of advertising and marketing communications for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "We're extremely proud of this campaign."

The ads have appeared in print (both newspaper and magazine) and in creative out-of-home applications, including on the backs of airplane tray tables, in airport terminals, wallscapes, transit station dominations, three-dimensional cubes in Times Square, "El train" wraps and taxi tops.

International Wireless Leadership

AT&T's efforts to market its international wireless services in such a compelling way reflect the company's overall focus on leadership in the category.

"We saw early on that a major opportunity existed in staking a leadership position when it comes to international wireless services," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "We knew that businesses and individuals would continue to work and play around the globe more and more, so we set about creating a seamless experience for these customers. We've shaped our device portfolio to offer the most phones that work around the world. We've aggressively added countries to our voice and data footprint. And along the way, we've told our story with a remarkable advertising campaign."

AT&T has the broadest international coverage of any U.S. wireless provider, delivering voice service in more than 215 countries and data service in more than 170 countries. AT&T also offers voice and data roaming coverage on 130 major cruise ships, as well as 3G services in more than 95 countries.

In the spirit of "One World, One Phone," AT&T has built an arsenal of more than 40 quad-band devices, those that work on all four GSM frequencies (850/900/1800/1900 MHZ). In fact, AT&T has more quad-band phones than any U.S. carrier. AT&T also has the widest selection of 2100 MHz devices which are required for Japan and Korea.

For more information on AT&T's international services, visit www.att.com/global.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates - AT&T operating companies - are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest 3G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. AT&T offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse(SM) and AT&T | DIRECTV(SM) brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T's Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations are known for their leadership in directory publishing and advertising sales. In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE(R) magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies.

(C) 2009 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATTNews. Find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ATT to discover more about our consumer and wireless services.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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