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"ONE POLICY,
ONE SYSTEM, UNIVERSAL SERVICE"
"Long-distance is the next best thing to being there"
"Reach
out and touch someone"
"The System
is the Solution"
"It's
all within your reach"
"Boundless"
The above slogans represent the
ever-changing marketing makeovers for AT&T's image throughout it's history.
Old advertisements can serve as a snapshot of
days gone by and bring back memories of those days we cherished. Many ads
can give an idea of the culture of the time period along with the fads of the
time. Others provide a "time-line" of new and emerging technologies or
products.
AT&T and image-creating campaigns go back a
long way. In 1907, the company successfully used advertising and public
relations to create a benevolent image and win over the public to the idea of a
national telephone monopoly, which became the Bell System. When the monopoly was
broken up in 1984, and the Bell System brand and blue bell logo were given to
the regional operating companies, the newly independent parent corporation
launched a campaign to make its then-unknown brand, AT&T, a household name.
On this web page you will find numerous print
advertisements and two multimedia advertisements of the Bell System.
Because of the numerous images that must download for this page, please be
patient if you are using a modem connection; it will take a few minutes.
The advertisements of the old Bell System
focus on at least the following themes. Many ads have overlapping themes
so it was hard to place them in a particular category below. Click on a
theme to jump to the web page with some examples of that theme:
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Human
desire to communicate with others - especially friends and relatives
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Quality Equipment
-
Top-notch customer service
-
Dedicated
employees and family generations of Bell employees
-
AT&T stock a secure
investment for retirement planning
-
Technology
and styles - Past, Present, and Future
-
Safety and peace of mind
-
Necessity of having a natural
monopoly to provide a reliable and cost-effective national communications
system instead of fragments local independent exchanges disconnected from
each other
-
Miscellaneous
I have also included some 1999
commercials by AT&T in "QuickTime" format courtesy of the
Commercial Archive. If you don't have Apple Computer QuickTime
Player on your Windows-based computer, you can download the latest player on
the internet by clicking
here. Click the two
links below to view these two modern commercials:
All
original material on this web site is copyrighted ©1997 - ©2005 by David Massey |
