Wes Anderson Shoots AT&T Ads

AT&T is going Hollywood its corporate advertising, turning to director Wes Anderson to create six new TV spots for the telephone company to help convey the message that the telco is “mobility-centric.”

Anderson, director of such critically acclaimed but quirky films as Rushmore and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, will create ad spots featuring college kids, reporters, moms, architects, actors and businessmen. These spots will be used in a campaign to target both general and multicultural audiences and includes online, print and outdoor segments. The spots will be part of a corporate initiative launched Sept. 11 called “Your Seamless World.”

Amongst the online initiatives will be a souvenir store, where users can go and list communities where they have friends and family and give that group of cities a unique group name. For instance, New York, San Francisco and South Dakota would become “New Sanfrakota.” The site visitors can then buy “Your Seamless World” merchandise, such as bumper stickers, with their personalized group name.

AT&T has been strategically transforming its brand from one thought of as landline centric to one identified with mobile services. The initiative is leveraging the launch of Apple’s iPhone, which can only legally be used by AT&T cellular users.