Bell System "Reach out and touch someone" Commercial (April 2, 1979)

N.W. Ayer, one of America's oldest advertising agencies, needed a creative approach to help AT&T soften its image in the face of growing concerns about AT&T's potential monopoly. So Ken D'Ambrosio helped develop the concept for a print and TV campaign that incorporated the now famous "Reach Out and Touch Someone" tag line. We can credit Marshall McLuhan for creating the tagline "Reach out and touch someone" for Ma Bell. This campaign was designed to soften AT&T's image and position the company as an indispensable element of everyday American life.

Michael Arlen devoted a book to the making of a 30-second commercial for [the Bell System] with the slogan "Reach out and touch someone".

"In thirty seconds, everybody notices everything" (Arlen, 1980: p. 211) stated Jerry Pfiffner, who was an executive vice-president of N.W. Ayer and leader of a Creative Group. They had designed the famous "Reach Out and Touch Someone" commercial advertising for AT&T's advertising campaign in 1979. The intention was to get more people to make long distance calls. The first commercial debuted on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.

David Lucas is the original composer of "Reach Out..." which is one of the rare jingles most people can actually sing. "Reach out. Call up and just say hi."

(Source: http://www.porticus.org/bell/bellsyst..., http://www.davidlucasmusic.com/)

• Category

  Science & Technology

[ramv36]

"Don't let those new friends get away!" Kind of a creepy line....

[johnpro2]

Interesting ..no fat Americans and only white folk..

You won't see that era again in TV production  ....or culture.

Jp

[MaryStewart]

those were the days...

[Dustin W]

At like :12 did the one guy reach in the car and kiss the other guys wife? LOL!!!!

[CitizenBeta2]

I though reach out and touch someone was creepy... ;)

[jamie1707]

That creepy video reminded me of the horrendous phone bills I used to get in college by making short intrastate phone calls. It got so bad, the family started using an egg timers (remember those things?) to limit the calls to under three minutes. Used to make me feel bad hanging up on my Grandparents, but they couldn't afford the huge tolls either. "Reach out and go broke" would have been a better slogan.

It's so different today. Flat rate and talk all you want. .

[TheZeke1974]

LOL! I remember this jingle!!!

[jack flash]

I didn't remember 'Reach out and touch someone' being that old. I though it started around the time of the bell system break up (early to mid 80's).

and i should know better - i worked there through

that period.