AT & T; Inc., formed by SBC Communications’ purchase of AT & T; Corp, said on Thursday it is planning the biggest ad campaign in the history of either company in a bid to convince customers to stay as competition heats up from cable television rivals.
AT & T; spent about $20 million for advertising in the first nine months of this year and SBC spent roughly $255 million for the same period. While AT & T; did not reveal the cost of the ads, it’s estimated that AT & T; is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on this campaign. AT & T;, which will debut the ads on TV on New Year’s Eve, said it will spend more on this campaign than AT & T;’s or SBC’s past annual advertising budgets.
