Cricket had a reputation problem. For a lot of people, it was the cheap phone you grabbed at a gas station, the burner. Meanwhile, its actual customers were among the most diverse in wireless, and the brand wanted to show it knew that. The easy move was a Black History Month spot that runs once and disappears. Oust pitched something better: an ongoing series that gave artists and creators a platform to talk about music, culture, and where they came from, year-round.
The title said it. Hear me out. The brand's job was to hand over the mic and get out of the way. So every piece started with an artist saying something real, and the phone only showed up as the thing that carries your voice.
I directed two campaign shoots. The first was in Chicago, where we put Mick Jenkins, Freddie Old Soul, and J.Kwest in a room for a live cypher. Some of the city's best rappers going bar for bar with the cameras rolling, and our job was mostly to stay out of their way.
The second was in Los Angeles. Four talent, one day: Usher, Angela Simmons, Morgan DeBaun, and Dorian Renaud. Usher's window was two hours and three setups, with no room to waste a minute of it.
The best thing he said never made the cut. Between takes, I asked him what he'd do if he had to do it all again. He barely paused. "I'd do the same thing. I'd make music. I'd stand outside the club. But instead of handing out CDs, I'd AirDrop."
He wasn't joking. Somebody who's played stadiums and the Super Bowl would start over from the sidewalk, with nothing but a phone and a song. That's Hear Me Out in one sentence.
Hear Me Out passed 30 million views and doubled brand consideration for Cricket. It did well enough that Cricket handed its Instagram over to the team behind it, and that account became the brand's fastest-growing channel. Turns out people will listen to a phone company, as long as it lets somebody else do the talking.