Wake Up With CrAIg

AT&T Business  /  Integrated campaign

To show small business owners how easy AT&T Business is to work with, we started a small business of our own and ran it on AT&T: Wake Up With CrAIg, an AI alarm clock built by Craig Robinson and his old Office castmates Ellie Kemper, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nuñez and Creed Bratton. For a year, the company grew up in real time across a working product, TV, social, digital, CTV and OOH.

Then we turned it into a movie with two premieres: the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and a massive activation in LA where small business owners were the VIPs. It became the most successful campaign in AT&T’s history, with 52% more engagement and a 9 point lift in purchase intent. And CrAIg is still open for business.

Press: Ad Age, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Campaign, The Knockturnal

The activation

Small biz, big screen. For the West Coast premiere, we built a blue-carpet night entirely around small business. Craig scouted local favorites on social and personally invited them. When they arrived, he greeted each owner with a one-of-one entrance jingle. The cast was there, but the VIPs were real small business owners. Everything else was small business too: the marketplace, the food, even the production. It was a Hollywood premiere where small business owners were the stars.

Activation reel

Activation tour

Recap

Interview

The film

The tease

Before we could make a film, we had to launch the business. But before that, before anyone had heard of CrAIg, we had to convince the world Craig was quitting comedy to start a business. We pulled it off, landing billions of earned media impressions.