She Shoots, She Scores! AT&T's Lily Returns for March Madness

AT&T's lovable Lily is quite a hoops fan, apparently.

For the holidays, she palled around with King James. Now, as March Madness approaches, the longtime AT&T saleswoman character returns in NCAA-tournament-themed commercials.

And this time, she shoots and scores! By which we mean, Milana Vayntrub, who returned as Lily last May after a three-year hiatus, also directed the ads through production company Hungry Man.

Now, she delivers breezy store-based vignettes in AT&T's self-consciously quirky signature style. First, we get dramatic player intros—by which we mean dramatic existing-customer intros, naturally.

Next, in this halftime integration spot, Lily dunks on her ninth-grade nemesis from the anchor desk.

"Who's on TV now, Amy?" Ha, ha! Someone's not a brand ambassador!

Finally, fab foam fingers come to the fore:

Big thumbs up on that last one.

BBDO Los Angeles developed the spots, with digital led by Critical Mass. Other elements will include ads featuring Lily and special guests airing later in the tournament.

So far, other notable March Madness tie-ins include Sam, Spike and Chuck's rollicking road trip for Capital One, and Nissan's bouncy tale of a runaway basketball.

An accomplished commercial filmmaker, Vayntrub also worked behind the camera, from her home, for Lily's comeback flight last year.

CREDITS

Client: AT&T
SVP, Consumer Advertising & Retail Marketing: Valarie Vargas                                               
VP, Advertising and Social Media: Marc Burns
Director, Advertising: Dave Brown
Lead Manager, Advertising: Carter Crenshaw

VP, Media & Sponsorship: Mark Wright                                          
Associate VP, Consumer Media: Sabina Ahmed
Director, Consumer Media: Scott Klatskin
Manager, Media: Katie Salins

Head of Sponsorships and Experiential Marketing: Shiz Suzuki
Director, Sponsorships and Experiential Marketing: Jamie Kerr
Associate Director Sponsorships and Experiential Marketing: Andrea Jones

Agency: BBDO LA 
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide: David Lubars 
Executive Creative Director: David Povill
Executive Creative Director: David Cuccinello
Senior Creative Director: Eli Terry
Associate Creative Director: Jon Murray
Associate Creative Director: Frankmy Olivo
Senior Art Director: Thomas Hinkamp
Art Director: Chidalu Motanya
Copywriter: Danielle Silveri
Copywriter: Maddi Wagner

Group Executive Producer: Julie Collins
Executive Producer: Andrew Tucci
Senior Producer: Whitney Husnik
Senior Producer: Scott Lilly

President BBDO LA & Global Client Lead: Rachel Nairn
Managing Director: Julien Lemoine
Senior Director: Laura Perrizo
Account Director: Andrea Bass
Assistant Account Executive: Bobby Walker

Head of Strategy: Tim Millar
Communications Planning Director: Mac Russell
Planning Director: Reza Rostampisheh
Brand Planner: Madeleine Reeves

Project Manager: Cornelia Berg 

Agency: Critical Mass
Executive Creative Director: Frank Dattalo
Group Creative Director: Christiaan Welzel 
Creative Director: Kathryn Whiteside
Associate Creative Director: James Leal-Valias
Associate Creative Director: Minor LeBlond
Associate Creative Director: Cam Benedict
Associate Creative Director: Eric Jorgensen 
Senior Art Director: Carl Lukasewich
Senior Art Director: Stephanie Gerbino
Senior Art Director: Robert DeLeon
Senior Copywriter: Lauren Barrett
Copywriter: Brendan Duffy
Designer: Elmar Van Der Watt

Executive Producer: Sydney Woodman
Producer: Cale McArthur
Editor: Ryan Bouman

EVP Client Partner: Stacia Parseghian
SVP Client Partner: Heather Livengood
Account Director: Austin Tatum
Senior Account Manager: Frankie Martin

Program Director: Laurie Ma
Senior Producer: Amy Damus
Project Manager: Melissa Cavaliere, Thai Quoc Dinh

Media Agency: Hearts & Science
Managing Executive Director: Mike Venables
Executive Director, Digital Strategy: Theresa Fromm
Senior Director, Strategy: Brian Diamond 
Senior Director, Sports Strategy: Melissa McDevitt
Director, Sports Strategy: Greg Lawerence
Director, Digital Audience Planning: Tasha Kapeles
Associate Director, Strategy: Brook Hauge
Account Supervisor: Paige King

Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Milana Vayntrub
Director: Amir Farhang
Managing Partner/Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura
Executive Producer/Director of Sales: Dan Duffy
Executive Producer: Rick Jarjoura
Head of Production: Marian Harkness
Producer: Josh Goldstein
Production Supervisor: Ben Oswald

Editorial: Cabin Editorial 
Executive Producer: Adam Becht 
Senior Producer: Michelle Dorsch
Editor: Randy Baublis
Editor: Greg Scruton
Editor: Chan Hatcher

Post EFX: Framestore
Executive Producer: James Razzal
Producer: Meredith Cherniak
Producer: Tom Baker
Producer: Amee Minsal
Lead Artist: Toby Brockhurst

Graphics: LVLY
Executive Producer: Bryce Edwards
Lead Artist: Billy Pence

Audio: Lime
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Audio Engineer: Zac Fisher

Music: Songs for Film & T.V.
Executive Producer: David Fisher

Photography: Embry Rucker