For many years, telco as a category has been all about sales activations and less about creating brands people care about. While this strategy has maintained sales, it creates a risk of commodification over the long-term. With the launch of the Connection Changes Everything campaign, AT&T sought to change that and to build a brand connection that could support their business goals for years.

We searched for genuine and diverse individuals and filtered out a group of interesting voices of change from hundreds of prospects. They sent self-recorded tapes reading the poem and sharing their stories. The casting process was kept open and organic (e.g., Ryder, the young drummer featured in the spot, was discovered while we were scouting for an unrelated scene). We aimed to disrupt traditional casting and showcase authenticity, featuring a diverse range of individuals connected through the poem’s meaning and pulse.