AT&T Brand Evolution

AT&T is considered one of America’s premier integrated communications companies with 200,000+ employees, 90,000+ vehicles, and thousands of retail stores. In 2016, AT&T was in the midst of dramatically re-imagining its business through the acquisition of DIRECTV, integration into Mexico, and accelerated expansion into new markets such as entertainment, internet-of-things, and connected car. AT&T’s diverse set of product offerings were growing exponentially, spanning business, mobility, and entertainment.

To better reflect the company AT&T was quickly becoming and support future strategic business needs, we needed to evolve the way AT&T looks, speaks, sounds, and behaves. We needed to re-imagine and simplify the brand identity without abandoning the core brand assets that helped AT&T become on of the most recognizable brands in America.

To accomplish this goal, I led a team of internal design leaders and external agency partners, including Interbrand NY and Man Made Music, to develop a simplified and refined system of core elements, including the visual identity, tone of voice, sonic identity, and experience principles. We then built a $260M business case to support the coordinated roll-out of the new identity system.

The result is a simple, dynamic brand identity which emphasizes flexible cohesion over mandated consistency, allowing AT&T to be relevant and recognizable in any context that it may show up. We brought the new identity to life through a wide variety of brand elements and experiences, including: logo, sonic logo, color palette, iconography, technician uniforms, billing, employee behaviors, retail, building signage, business collateral, fleet, data visualization, photography, illustration, typography, experience design, training materials, etc.