In T-Moble's fourth consecutive Super Bowl buy, the telco ran four separate ads, all by Publicis Seattle: "#UnlimitedMoves" in the first quarter, the third-quarter "#BagofUnlimited" and "#Punished" and the fourth-quarter "#NSFWireless."
In "#UnlimitedMoves," released online the Thursday before Super Bowl Sunday, Justin Bieber argues that neither celebrations nor data plans should be limited. Points for a snappy narrative, a back-talking dancing kid and Bieber in limited-enough quantities to not overstay his welcome. The press strangely treated the ad as fulfillment of Bieber's 2015 wish, expressed via Twitter, to appear in a Super Bowl commerical. He had already done one, way back in 2011 -- Best Buy's "Ozzy vs. Bieber."
"#BagofUnlimited" makes the most of Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart's VH1 series "Martha & Snoop's Pot Luck Dinner Party."
The most surprising and rewarding of the quartet, "#Punished" and "NSFWireless," star Kristen Schaal as a cellphone customer turned on by the pain of wireless contracts and getting punished for data overages -- en route to differentiating T-Mobile as the place to avoid all that.
Sprint was the only other mobile carrier in Super Bowl LI ("Car").
Publicis Seattle, T-Mobile's agency of record, also created the telco's paid of ads for Super Bowl 50, "Restricted Bling" starring Drake and "Drop the Balls" starring Steve Harvey.
BRAND: T-Mobile
YEAR: 2017
AGENCY: Publicis
SUPERBOWL: LI
QUARTER AIRED: 3