BT launches ads to lure UK public onto broadband

June 27, 2002

How long?

3-4 minutes

BT launches ads to lure UK public onto broadband

A TV ad in which BT engineers round up a stray rhino, an American football squad and a ballroom dancing team on a suburban street, will form the focus of the telecoms giant's attempt to woo UK consumers to its broadband internet service this autumn.

BT is understood to have spent more than £1m into producing the ad, which is being created by St Luke's. The engineers shove the characters down the street cable in order to illustrate the richness of content broadband can deliver. It will be supported by shorter, more specific executions by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO in a £10m-plus above-the-line assault in September.

A provisional strapline for the campaign is believed to be 'BT launches its new fat pipe - the BT Broadband'. The campaign is seen as essential to promoting BT's broadband offering, which chief executive Ben Verwaayen has publicly stated as being the most important part of the company's business.

Last week it kicked off a direct mail and online campaign targeting BT Broadband at one million of its 19 million customers.