By now you’ve probably seen or heard something from AT&T’s new Rethink Possible campaign. Here’s the brand spot that introduces the campaign and sums up the concept quite well. It positions AT&T as more than just a mobile provider or a telecom company. There’s an emphasis on innovation and new technology. The subtext of this campaign is “rethink AT&T because things are getting better.”

Why it’s necessary
AT&T has started to roll out U-Verse, its next generation fiber optic service for cable TV, internet and VoIP phone, and the brand needs a unified marketing effort now that mobile is completely reintegrated into its service offering. The telecom giant is finally ready for a comprehensive campaign that establishes itself in the face of its varied competition.

The AT&T brand needs fresh energy to overcome its challenges, which seem to be mounting all the time. Apple’s Steve Jobs has responded to concerns about AT&T’s poor service for iPhone users, which is no small issue in itself. Now consider this week’s unprecedented pre-sales of iPhone 4. 6000,000 more data-intensive iPhones are certain to bog down AT&T’s network even further. Then throw into the melee Sprint’s announcement of Evo, its new 4G smart phone. Suffice it to say, the pressure is mounting for AT&T, and Rethink Possible needs to take the brand to the next level.

Where it succeeds
Rethink Possible is relevant, qualitative, ambitious and motivational. It seems like the perfect line for AT&T employees and agencies to rally behind as they work to fulfill this lofty promise. If Rethink Possible works, consumers will see AT&T in a new light.

The other strategy at work with Rethink Possible is AT&T’s decision to remove itself from the tit-for-tat ad battle with Verizon over coverage. Verizon’s “There’s a map for that” campaign maligned AT&T’s 3G coverage as inadequate, while AT&T’s response ads starring Luke Wilson called the coverage (3G and otherwise) the nation’s fastest and stated that it covers 97% of all Americans. With no clear winner in that battle, Rethink Possible shows AT&T taking the high road and focusing on a big-picture brand message rather than a single product attribute for just one of its product categories.

Here’s a new spot that shows the Rethink Possible branding applied to a familiar message about coverage.

Where it fails
The intended message of Rethink Possible may be an overpromise. My personal experience with AT&T for mobile and internet service has been pretty good, but far from exceptional. Things will have to improve significantly in order for Rethink Possible to make me a believer.

The real danger though is that if AT&T can’t live up to the expectations set by this campaign, customers will be rethinking AT&T in a negative way. Can’t you just hear an angry customer saying, “A consistently good internet connection from AT&T? Yeah, I’ve rethought that.”

At its most basic level, the issue is that “rethink” isn’t an inherently positive word—it’s neutral. It’s lack of positive connotation makes it extremely easy to spin it in a negative light.  And that’s probably something a customer will do if she’s been encouraged to elevate her opinion of AT&T, only to be let down by the same persistent issues. This seems like an unnecessary risk to me, when they could've easily chosen a more positive word.

And while Rethink Possible puts distance between AT&T and mobile competitor Verizon, the campaign seems to bring AT&T tenuously closely to another of its key rivals, Comcast.

Let’s compare “Rethink Possible” and “Dream Big,” Comcast’s campaign that launched late last year. The words in these lines are different, but the campaigns mean essentially the same thing— we’re improving and it’s okay to start expecting more from us. Now look at this brand spot for Comcast’s Dream Big campaign. It shows a city with playful cartoon characters bounding through it, a characteristic shared by the AT&T brand spot from the beginning of this post. So not only is AT&T’s new work unoriginal, it’s also not as fun and memorable as the Comcast work it copies. That’s a weakness, although one that’s probably unknown to most customers.

Conclusion
With Rethink Possible, AT&T has set the bar extremely high. If this is the same old AT&T giving us lip service with a new tagline, then the failure of Rethink Possible will be swift and complete. However, if AT&T is in fact ready to stage a comeback, the promise implicit in Rethink Possible is big enough to change our minds and maybe our service providers.