AAF NSAC: AT&T
The American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) brings together student teams from across the country to build campaigns for real-world brands. This year’s client was AT&T. Their ask? Make Gen Z crave the brand.
AT&T is well-known for its reliability, but that reputation doesn’t always translate into emotional relevance for younger audiences. Our challenge was to take their existing platform, “Connecting Changes Everything,” and turn it into something that would genuinely resonate with a generation raised on constant connection.
So, we reframed the brief by asking: what does showing up actually look like to Gen Z?
They don’t just want fast service and strong signals. They want to feel seen. They want brands that understand how they communicate, what matters to them, and how to build trust in a world that rarely slows down. That insight led us to I Don’t Miss, a phrase pulled directly from Gen Z’s own language. It’s confident. It’s emotional. And it gave us a lens to reposition AT&T’s technical reliability as something more meaningful: consistency you can feel.
This campaign became about more than product benefits. It was about emotional presence. Every element was designed to meet Gen Z where they already are, and speak to what they actually care about.
MY ROLE
As Creative Director, I focused on turning our insights into something Gen Z would actually want to engage with, not just scroll past. My job was to turn our insights into a creative direction that felt honest and culturally aware. I led the development of the tone, messaging, and visual identity, working closely with our designers, strategists, and media leads to make sure everything stayed aligned.
I also had the opportunity to stand behind the work I helped shape, and present our campaign to a panel of industry judges. It was a chance to speak to the choices we made and the intention behind them. As a team, we all pushed each other to stay focused on one goal: making something that felt real to the people we were trying to reach.