Old is the new new

Fuzzy images of the Bell logo on the sides of old trucks. Sepia-toned pictures of linemen climbing poles. A craggy-throated, familiar-sounding voice talking about the invention of the telephone, longevity and experience. Images from an exhibit at a museum of telecommunications? No, a new TV ad campaign from SBC Communications.

I distinctly remember a few years ago, when the bubble showed few signs of bursting, that no company in the telecom sector wanted to be perceived as old--regardless of the fact that being around for a while meant having experience and knowing what the heck you were doing. (I can’t even count the number of people who asked us when we were going to change the name of Telephony so people wouldn’t think of it as just a stodgy, century-old telephone magazine.) In that era, to be considered old was to be considered out of touch and behind the times. Old companies weren’t nimble; the start-ups, with their radical business plans and their modern technology applications, were the hotshots of the industry. The Bells were lumbering dinosaurs.

SBC’s new/old ad campaign not only emphasizes its age and experience, it positions the company as the anti start-up. I suspect it will be fairly effective right now. After all, the world is an uncomfortable and dangerous place. The economy is unstable, most of the start-up efforts in the telecom industry have flamed out and the future is uncertain. Who wouldn’t take some comfort in the reassuring voice of Tommy Lee Jones telling us that your friendly local phone company, still around after all these years, is there for you? Ahh, stability.

Eventually, however, the message itself will get old. The economy will stabilize, the future will become more certain, the world will become safer (we can only hope, anyway) and the telecom industry will regain some of its lost competitiveness (we can only hope, anyway). SBC should be careful to communicate to its customers, and to the financial community, that it is a high-tech company operating a state-of-the-art network, investing in its facilities and constantly looking for new ways to improve the applications and levels of service it provides to its customers.

By the way, SBC: That is what you’re doing, right?

Contact me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com.