We used audio to connect with business owners in a unique way, tapping into an audience-driven insight: business owners report suffering from sleep deprivation due to the worries related to their business.

Not by coincidence, we built a small business with former cast members of The Office and launched a new product: a pillow with built-in speakers to help people sleep. Alongside the pillow we launched a guided sleep audio album that could be paired straight from Spotify, directly to business owners’ resting heads. Each playlist was designed to help different business archetypes, with bespoke sounds from former cast

With small business enthusiasm at a 10-year low, AT&T Business did the unexpected: we reunited the cast of the worst-run office ever (The Office) and asked them to help calm the nerves of business owners. Since business owners reported suffering from sleep deprivation due to the worries related to their business, we launched a talking pillow filled with positive affirmations. Because if AT&T Business can help The Office cast run a small business, we can help anyone. Each cast member was responsible for a different business archetype — from ‘Expert’ to ‘Community Builder’ to ‘Visionary’ — and all business owners had their own custom track, created to help relieve small business anxiety. But a talking pillow and an album, connected seamlessly by a phone weren’t enough. We created a business that manufactured these talking pillows, to show that anyone can start their own business. Even Rainn, Craig, Jenna, Brian, Creed, and Kate. Our tagline summed up our strategy: You Can’t Dream If You Can’t Sleep.

Through the top audio platform frequented by business owners, AT&T Business crafted an album catering to the typical archetypes of tech and business leaders. After diving into their fears and main stress points, we transformed their concerns into humorous scripts narrated by Rainn Wilson and his colleagues. Leveraging their acting chops, we turned their recognizable voices into a soothing tool to help listeners doze off, to show how navigating business challenges can be easier with the support of AT&T Business. We even combined the voices of Rainn, Craig, Creed, Brian, and Kate to create a hypnotic soundscape track guaranteed to either make you smile or sleep.

Original audio produced in English.

Running a small business is hard. It’s full of challenges that keep owners and decision-makers up at night worried about a lot of things, from inflation to connectivity. And with small business enthusiasm at a 10-year low, AT&T Business did the unexpected: we reunited the group famous for being terrible at running a business and launched a new company with them. Because if we can help their dream of running a business come true, we can help anyone. While B2B campaigns are often unrealistically positive, we tapped into real business owners’ anxieties and transformed them into laughs and entertainment.

In less than two weeks, the AT&T Business campaign became the most successful one in nearly 150 years of the company’s history. It made a splash in pop culture, with over 2.3 billion earned media impressions in high-impact publications such as Fast Company, USA Today, People, AdWeek, and Entertainment Weekly to name a few, ranging from Shanghai to Argentina. With a 99% social sentiment score, not only were more people than ever engaging with the brand, but they were happy about it. Small business owners even used our audio tracks to announce the launches of their own new businesses. Absent any paid media support, the audio album launched as a surprise-and-delight initiative for individuals who followed messaging from organic social through to our branded microsite, and eventually for users who navigated through the various channels of messaging.

Creating a branded playlist is one thing. Creating one that syncs to a custom pillow, based on archetypes of business decision-makers, that speaks directly to the audience you’re trying to reach in a unique and entertaining way, through the voices of some of the most beloved actors of a generation who represent the fears of that audience — that’s doing things a little different. Dare we say, innovative. For over a decade, fans have wanted the cast of The Office to come together. What they didn’t expect was the opportunity to sleep with them. Well, their voices, connected seamlessly through the brand.