“First comes Rainn, then comes sleep.”
The Office is back. AT&T has partnered with Rainn Wilson, known as Dwight Shrute, to create a 6-minute advertisement.
In the ad, Dwight is trying to get a sleep aid product “up and running,” joined by fellow former cast mates (Adams, 2024). “His pitch focuses on a pillow with integrated speakers that play his voice to help lull people to sleep, something he claims to always have been good at” (Adams, 2024). He teased these with posts on LinkedIn and Instagram but the commercial was formally launched at the final round of last weekend’s Masters tournament.
Dwight is set to release his pillow website in 10 minutes but he loses the key to his office. This begins a series of comically chaotic events. Despite the chaos of this business, AT&T Business’ Next Level Network connectivity remained strong throughout.
This ad, meant to target small businesses, presents how AT&T businesses can support them in their venture. As Marketing Dive mentioned, this show has been a “cultural fixture in the streaming era” and it might even appeal to the B2B audience. Their roles in the advertisement and the show are closely aligned.
From leaning into LinkedIn to connect with B2B audiences to including “colorful public personas” for its celebs, this ad is one to remember (Adams, 2024).
Walmart+ Calls on Moms to Answer Moms
Walmart+ is coming back with a second iteration of its “Mother of All Savings Memberships” campaign. This year, it was titled “Moms Answers Mom.” It featured celebs such as Paris Hilton and Tia Mowry (Kelly, 2024).
They took things a step further with this campaign by making a two-way convo, providing advice for individuals at all stages of motherhood on TikTok stated David Hartman VP for Creative at Walmart.
The video was launched today. Consumers will comment with questions and they will be answered by the celebs on TikTok on April 23-24th.
While they provide value to the consumer with tips, Walmart+ subscriptions will also be mentioned as they save moms time and money with benefits such as free shopping, fuel savings, paramount +, and more.
They are competing with Target’s Circle360 subscription plan.
This highlights the fact that TikTok can be used as a platform to market to diverse segments beyond just Gen Z. TikTok has a prevalent millennial user base.
Executive Hartman stated that “We think about our customers and our prospective members who want to be able to produce content at the speed of retail and the speed of culture,” as they plan to meet consumers where they are (Kelly, 2024)
Southwest and their “Big Flex”
Southwest Airlines is showing us how they stand out amongst competitors with a new campaign that presents their perks.
Besides their delicious snack mix, this included the ability to check two bags free, and receive flight credits, and points that do not expire.
They have worked with agencies to launch content across: “streaming, linear TV, social media and audio platforms” (Adams, 2024). They work on repairing their brand trust after the challenges that they faced with the ‘22 holiday revival.
Their creativity shines through with one of their commercials showcasing a man with luscious, bouncy hair. He explains that he’s able to maintain the look by packing lots of shampoo on trips, which is made possible by Southwest’s check-two-bags-free policy (Adams, 2024). The ad ends off with saying “That’s a big flex” (Adams, 2024).
Along with this, they have worked with influencers to create localized content and targeted ads.
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