AT&T's CMO Kellen Smith-Kenny encourages her team to be a "thermostat" that regulates a room's energy, rather than a "thermometer" that just reflects it. This means introducing data into a creative brainstorm or bringing a customer insight into a deeply analytical discussion to achieve balance.
As part of its "AT&T Guarantee," the company proactively credits customers for service interruptions. Counterintuitively, telling customers about issues they might not have noticed didn't decrease satisfaction. Instead, it increased their confidence, making them feel AT&T was on top of its service.
In the competitive telecom industry, AT&T's differentiation strategy wasn't about flashy promotions. It was about mastering the fundamentals customers truly want: a dependable network, prompt service, and fair deals for all customers. This focus led to the successful "AT&T Guarantee" program.
To ensure authenticity in its brand repositioning, AT&T focused on employee buy-in first. The new purpose was launched internally, allowing the team to live the values before they were communicated externally. This "live it before you launch it" approach prevented the new positioning from feeling disconnected.
AT&T's CMO credits her father's success as an MLB pitcher to his intense coachability. He constantly adapted his technique based on scout feedback, from hiding his curveball tip at age 14 to changing his pitch grip in college. This shows that a willingness to adapt is crucial, regardless of talent level.
Recognizing that not all employees will embrace new technology like AI, AT&T's marketing organization tasked a dedicated change management expert to drive adoption. This person runs internal "campaigns," including training and contests, to bring along more hesitant team members and ensure widespread usage.
To rally senior leaders around a brand reinvention, AT&T's CMO had them share stories about brands they personally admired. This exercise revealed that brand love stems from product and service—not just ads. It successfully reframed brand building as a collective, company-wide responsibility.
AT&T prioritizes using AI to enhance its core service—like predicting storm impacts to reroute network traffic or optimizing technician dispatch. By improving the actual customer experience first, subsequent marketing communications about reliability and service become more authentic and impactful. The product proof precedes the marketing promise.