Reprising her role in one of the most memorable ad campaigns of the year, FilmCore’s Tiffany Burchard has cut a new spot for AT&T touting its unlimited messaging service.
The new spot from BBDO, New York, is a follow up to an earlier ad in which a mother confronts her daughter about the cost of her text messages. The girl responds in abbreviated "text" language, with subtitles providing "English" translations. See the first ad here. In the new ad, the same mom quizzes the girl again as well as other family members, including grandma. Challenged about her excessive texting, the older woman responds, "MYOB!" (Mind your own business.)
"The big difference in this spot is all the new characters," said Burchard of her role as editor. "This time, we've got a brother, a dad and a grandma, who provides the punch line. It was challenging to establish all the characters and get the funniest bits for the grandmother."
With the new spot, there was also the challenge of ensuring that it lived up to its popular predecessor. "Whenever you do a sequel, you always want to top the one before," she said. "I had a great script and great performances to work with. My role was to make the funniest possible spot and deliver the sales message."
The campaign has become something of a phenomenon. The earlier spot is a favorite on You Tube as well as many advertising websites. "I also came across a site that was selling merchandise related to the ad—tee shirts, wall clocks, hats and bags," Burchard said. "They all were marked with the girl's catch phrase, 'IDK my BFF Jill.'"
Will grandma’s zinger from the new spot achieve that level of market penetration? Burchard thinks the chances are XLNT.