GTE’s Spots Don’t Make All the Right Moves

Advertiser: GTE

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, New York

Challenge: Distinguish GTE from other telecommunications providers while introducing consumers to the “new” GTE.

The Ads: TV ads use a series of images to demonstrate the slogan, “People moving ideas.” A 60-second ad begins with images of ships, trains, trucks and planes. “There is a company out there in the business of moving things,” the voice-over says. “It is not a trucking company or a shipping company . . . it is a company moving ideas.” The voice-over says the company’s name begins with a G, as “Gee” appears on a computer screen. Images of people using phones, pagers and computers follow as the voice-over explains that GTE--”one you might have thought was just a telephone company”--is involved in all these businesses. The scene cuts to GTE employees as the voice-over says, “People moving ideas. That’s who we are at GTE.” Other spots are shorter versions of this ad.

Comment: GTE spends a lot of time telling consumers what it isn’t in the process of conducting a guessing game. And its slogan misses an opportunity to connect with viewers. Why not say, “People moving your ideas.” Granted, GTE has a difficult job. Making telecommunications appear simple is tricky, and the company smartly avoided the boring details. It seems GTE is saying that its people distinguish it from other telecommunications companies. But GTE doesn’t say what makes its people so special. $$