AT&T Dream in Black is a dynamic, innovation-obsessed micro-brand that reveres Black culture and stands as the essential cultural value proposition for a genuine conversation with the Black consumer, enabling AT&T to authentically engage the community.

The cultural engagement platform inspires, elevates and supports Black Progress, creating content that is fueled by tech enabled experiences that become lasting social phenomena. By creating a relevant cultural connection with a brand we build brand love. Culture equals conversion.

Every year, our electrifying Dream in Black omni-channel integrated campaign kicks-off during Black History Month, where we pay tribute to the visionaries and trailblazers of tomorrow – the Black Future Makers. The evergreen campaign continues through the year, marked by cultural tentpoles, including Essence Festival of Culture, Afropunk and HBCU events.

Below is an overview of the Dream in Black launch campaigns for 2021, 2022, and 2023

AT&T Dream in Black 2021

Kicking off at the start of Black History Month, the 2021 campaign was the height of the COVID lockdown. Reading the tea leaves, the campaign concept developed from the relevant cultural message of “give me my flowers while I can still smell them.” Derived from the insight that far too many Blacks are honored after they are gone, we celebrated those following their dreams today and shaping the future for a better tomorrow.

Leading with content for social, digital, and broadcast in targeted markets we followed by revealing the 28, 2021 Black Future Makers with custom portraits, a Black Future Maker contest, multiple live-streaming social events, activations, retail and event experiential, and a microsite where consumers could canonize themselves by creating a living portrait to share on social.

The evergreen campaign continued throughout the year, marked by tentpole events and activations.

AT&T Dream in Black Future Makers

As part of the Dream in Black campaign launch we recognized 28 Black Future Makers throughout Black History Month. The honored Black influencers are the creators and shapers of community that drive culture forward. In addition to the 28, we recognized one winner of our Black Future Maker Contest every month throughout the year. The honorees range from Grammy-award-winning music artists and media executives to independent filmmakers, a medical physicist and First Responders. A few of the 28 recipients are LeBron James, Channing Dungey, D-Nice, Abby Phillip, Billy Porter, Angelica Ross, Jazmine Sullivan and H.E.R.

AT&T Experiential Retail

Experiential retail at flagship stores in Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco allowed consumers to immerse themselves in the Dream in Black campaign. The stores also included emerging media interactive activations along with a portrait generator that enabled consumers to canonize themselves by creating sharable living portraits. #DreaminBlack.

AT&T Dream in Black 2022

AT&T Dream in Black, Black Future Makers 2022

We launched the 2022 campaign with an inspiring spot, living portraits, engaging influencer interviews, and 28 custom Black Future Maker portraits. With the understanding that AT&T was in the process of updating their brand message to "Connection Changes Everything,” and would be making it public later in the year, we created uplifting content utilizing the new message as inspiration. 

As the "connection" thread, we used the three-band color line throughout all 2022 Future Maker campaign executions and events, from digital and social media to OOH and experiential. The Black Future Makers campaign continued through the year with an Essence experiential and HBCU campaign, along with multiple tentpole events.

Social 2022 Living Portraits

Social 2022 Interviews

AT&T DREAM IN BLACK 2023

AT&T Dream in Black, Black Future Makers 2023

We launched the 2023 campaign with an inspiring broadcast, digital, and social spot, woven together by the powerful theme "Connection Changes Everything." But that was just the beginning – the excitement continued to surge throughout the month as we unveiled the extraordinary Black Future Makers across social and digital platforms.

Immerse yourself in the world of these visionaries through in-depth interviews and personalized, animated portraits crafted by the talented Black Future Maker and artist, Eugene Handel. Together, they bring their stories to life, sparking a celebration of Black History that extends far beyond a single month.

To bring in the rest of the year, we ushered in a spectacular Black Future Makers Celebration, featuring an exclusive concert with none other than the sensational Big Sean. It gets even better. Lucky consumers could win tickets to this intimate concert hosted at the vibrant AT&T Chicago retail store. And for those who didn’t score tickets, fret not – we had them covered. Consumers could catch the exhilarating premiere of Big Sean’s once in a lifetime mesmerizing concert on YouTube.

Social 2023 Living Portraits

Social 2023 Interviews

Big Sean Concert and Retail Experiential Event

AT&T Black Future Makers Celebration with Big Sean

The retail experiential event included included a live concert from Big Sean, guest speakers, and interactive experiences allowing guests to interact and paint with the 2023 campaigns brand assets. The promo length and aspect ratio was adjusted and formatted for top performing social platforms.