AT&T rolls out Latin Superstar vignettes for Holiday Season.

AT&T Inc. announced the introduction of three Spanish TV advertisements featuring famous Latino celebrities. Mexican actress Angelica Vale, Grammy winner Gloria Estefan and entertainment reporters Raul de Molina and Lili Estefan — from the show “El Gordo y la Flaca” — lend their talents to the humorous and musical vignettes. The spots, which run through the end of the year, showcase AT&T’s latest array of communications and entertainment services, including the popular AT&T World Connect Mexico calling plan, the new Samsung a737 wireless phone and AT&T’s exclusive Rollover® Minutes.

“AT&T offers the most relevant products and services to the booming Hispanic market,” said Roberto Garcia, executive director of Marketing for AT&T’s wireless unit. “These ads feature cherished Latino entertainers and allow us to connect with Hispanic customers in a unique and culturally relevant way while showcasing our great products. Traffic throughout company stores around the holiday shopping season increases dramatically, and we want to showcase AT&T’s exclusive Hispanic stars for this time of the year.”

Whether it’s the latest “novela” villain or the hottest Spanish pop singer, Hispanics bring their favorite Latino stars into their homes through their television sets each week. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of Hispanic TV households expanded by 33 percent, from 8.7 million to 11.6 million, with the average Hispanic home tuning in 58 hours a week, according to Nielsen Media Research. Nielsen’s ethnic universe estimates, released in August 2007, show that Los Angeles continues to be the top Hispanic TV market, followed by New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.

Based around Hispanics’ love of comedy, the ads offer a lighthearted and family-friendly approach to situations in which only the best in communications and entertainment services will do. One of the ads features Mexican actress Angelica Vale helping out a friend by letting him know there’s a better, more convenient way to call Mexico. “Forget those [calling] cards, eenie or meenie. Make your calls with AT&T World Connect Mexico. It’s direct and super-duper easy and only 5 cents a minute!” Vale tells her friend, who replies happily by saying “super-duper.”

The ad featuring Raul de Molina and Lili Estefan relies on the duo’s comedic appeal as it showcases the new Samsung a737 phone, exclusive to AT&T. Lili — “La Flaca” — talks on her mobile phone with Raul — “El Gordo” — as they both use several telecommunications applications all at once. It’s no easy task for Raul, and we see him dressed in full-body attire that encompasses a plasma screen, a satellite antenna, a video camera and a boom box, all wired to what appears to be a techno bodysuit from an old sci-fi movie. But for Lili it’s much easier, thanks to the new Samsung phone. “With my new Samsung,” she says, “I get TV and XM Radio, I can download music directly to my mobile phone and can see what my friends see live” thanks to Video Share exclusive from AT&T.

The final ad in the star-studded vignette series uses a lighthearted and romantic way to demonstrate the value of AT&T’s Rollover Minutes. In the ad, a young woman talks on her mobile phone with her boyfriend: “I miss you. I want you. I love you. I don’t want to be a minute without you,” she says as we cut to Latin superstar Gloria Estefan singing the exact same words, which are part of the lyrics to her new hit single “Me Odio.” The announcer then adds, “Say it, sing it or, whichever way you want to, now you can with AT&T Rollover Minutes. The minutes you don’t use roll over to the next month.” Estefan and her band then finish the song.

The TV spots featuring Angelica Vale, Lili Estefan and Raul de Molina were produced by the creative firm BRAVO and directed by Fernando Arrioja from EMIGRE Films/Cortez Brothers. The spot with Gloria Estefan was produced by THE BRAVO GROUP and filmed and edited by Estefan Enterprises. In keeping with AT&T’s long tradition of bringing the most relevant Latino content to Hispanic consumers, the star-studded ads were designed to highlight the company’s commitment to keeping Hispanic customers connected.