Did AT&T Predict The Future? The "You Will" Campaign 25 Years Later | Answers With Joe

Happy New Year you're probably drinking last night sorry it's officially 2018 and you were probably drinking a little bit last night so I'm not gonna break your brain too hard with this video this is just a fun video that I wanted to put out there because I thought it was an interesting topic so just turn the volume down low and enjoy in 1993 AT&T put out a campaign that was called the you will campaign it ran for a couple of years and the whole thing was it imagine what the future would be like the kind of things that you would be able to do in the future and it always wrapped it up by saying that the company who will bring this to you is AT&T it was a great campaign I'm sure many of the audience members that are my age remember it you know they they painted this picture of a future that was looked like it was something right out of a sci-fi movie with all these cool possibilities and things we'd be able to do sometime in our lifetimes well now is 2018 it is actually 25 years from when they first put out that campaign and I thought this would be a great opportunity to look back on what their predictions were that life would be like in the future and see how close they came because after looking at them I guess say they were pretty accurate on some of them pretty accurate on some of them hilariously off the mark another so this should be fun so I'm gonna rate each scenario on the idea behind it and then the execution of that idea because sometimes they get one really close but just completely with the other so most of these videos mostly the commercials had three different scenarios in them this first one I'm gonna show you was a really short one at the fitting a 15-second one and it only has one in it so you can kind of get the idea of what these are it will usually have these three different scenarios and then end it within the company that will bring it to you AT&T so let's watch this first one have you ever renewed your driver's license at a cash machine you will and the company that'll bring it to you AT&T okay I'm giving this idea a seven out of ten and the execution a two out of ten yeah this one was pretty far out the mark because as far as I know there aren't any kiosks and cash machines out there where you can update your your driver's license from if there are please let me know but I've never seen one before I can imagine that there are some DMVs out there that have kiosks that you can go to instead of having to cut through the line but I'm going to give the idea seven because the basic gist is that you will be able to update your your driver's license easier than having to go in and wait in line at the DMV which you can do you can do it online in many places here in Texas every other time that you have to renew your license you can do it online and the other - the other every other time you have to go into the you know to the station because you got to get your picture taken so yeah the idea that being able to renew your driver's license is going to be really simple is pretty good but their execution of it I think is way off the mark okay let's move on to the next one have you ever watched the movie you wanted to you wanted to do 10 out of 10 on that one they they nailed it on both counts this was so on point that it literally killed off an entire industry the video rental industry in America like blockbuster I'm sorry they have no excuses because AT&T saw this one coming in 1993 but yeah I mean that's that's how most of us watch our movies now we stream it online that was impressively accurate learn special things that's all taken from jazz now any questions from faraway places where did jazz come from okay I'm given the idea in eight out of ten in the execution of three out of ten so one of the things that stands out in a lot of these commercials when I look at them is they still have this mindset that you're gonna have to leave the house to take advantage of this technology a lot of times you see people out doing things there's not a lot of people just sitting in their homes on their laptops being able to do all this stuff it's like they didn't quite get the things would get to that point so to that point there are now virtual classrooms and online colleges that people can attend but they aren't done like in a library gathered around a screen where you're pressing buttons to a live professor that's you know teaching a class it's not really done that way it's usually done in your pajamas on your couch with some coffee and and that's how we do it now now there are also I would I guess they're called mobile assistants and they're basically like robots with iPads that if a student is sick and can't get to school this will be there like surrogate person that will go to the classrooms for them there's little people that kind of walk them around and they can interact with the teacher through this robot they can interact with other people in the class through this robot so that's kind of getting there but still it's very much a sit at home by yourself on your computer doing it thing instead of gathering around and you know in a classroom somewhere else so yeah the idea was getting there execution was pretty far off next scenario or touch a baby from a phone booth the company that'll bring it to you AT&T okay idea a nine out of ten execution one out of ten again you might be seeing a pattern here very accurate ideas with very inaccurate executions so yet video calls are totally a thing that we can all do now either on our computers around our phones but the fact that eighteen t thought we would be doing it from a phone booth is adorable it really goes to show just how transformative cell phones would be in our lives and it's actually ironic that AT&T didn't see that coming okay next one have you ever kept an eye on your home yeah I'm giving them ten out of ten on both counts I think they nailed it on this one smart home technology is totally a thing there are security systems you can manage through your phone's heating and cooling systems you can manage through your phones there's lighting systems like the Philips hue lighting that you can control through your phone now this isn't exactly ubiquitous technology it's not something that we all have or can afford but you know if you look at the house it's in this commercial it looks like a very expensive you know multi-million dollar house I can imagine they would be able to afford this and it's funny to me how they totally nailed the potential of cell phones in this commercial or in this scenario but not so much and some of the others it's just I don't know it's funny to me next one we're gotten a phone call on your if you will and the company that'll bring it to you AT&T [Music] have you ever opened doors yeah idea four out of ten execution one editin yeah this looks like they just ripped off a scene from Blade Runner or something voice-activated doors and handprint scanners and retinal scanners they're kind of a trope of sci-fi films going way back but they're not really a thing now they never really happened not for residential use anyway now there are smart locks on the market that can open over Bluetooth when you get close enough with your phone they automatically open I'm sure there are some that have fingerprint scanners on them just like our phones have fingerprint scanners and computers have fingerprint scanners that's totally a thing now we do have voice activation for you know things like Siri and Alexa and stuff like that but there the voice activation to open the door I don't know I don't think that exists so yeah pretty far off there [Music] carried your medical history in your wallet [Music] I'm gonna give this idea in eight out of ten but execution one at a time okay so again the general idea that you would be able to access your medical records wherever you want to go is pretty much there but we do it more over the Internet and not so much from like a card you would carry around clearly they didn't foresee the cloud back then although I will say the way they manage computer records these days is way far behind where it should be I think it's it's still pretty much a situation where you have to contact your primary care person and then they send over the records or give access to the records it's not something that's easily obtainable it's it's something that needs to be upgraded drastically next video or attended a meeting in your bare feet you will and the company that will bring it to you 18 - yeah ten out of ten nailed it not that we're all taking calls from a beach house or anything like that that'd be nice but you know telecommuting has become such a or --ml thing now that many companies are starting to go to that because they simply save money by keeping their employees at home and I've certainly taken video calls and meetings while being out of town and even on vacation although I was staying in a nice beach house like that I would prefer to not be on office call if I could help it but anyway you can moving on have you ever had a classmate thousands of miles away yeah I do three out of ten and execution three out of ten okay honestly I don't even know what's going on here like why would some kid in LA or New York be taking a class with a kid in China like why would you even be doing that I don't understand and by the way wouldn't it be nighttime for one of these kids in that scenario come on guys so I already talked about one previously where they were doing the interactive learning things so we've already talked about that but at least this one they're on their individual computers which is maybe a little bit more realistic I don't know maybe I just don't like the way they executed it in this commercial cuz they just I don't think it doesn't make sense to me I only know what's going on there anyway next up [Music] in a language you don't understand yeah I'm gonna give the idea 10 out of 10 in the execution a seven out of 10 they're pretty close with this one yeah so in this scenario they have somebody talking over a video chat and then there's like a dictation service that's taking down with this person is saying in another language and then translating it to English or whatever language this guy speaks now we don't have anything like that exactly but Google Translate is totally a thing and can translate stuff in almost real-time and there's also the Waverly labs pilot earpiece that will actually translate languages in real time so that you can hear it when people are talking to you that is actually more advanced than what they have in this commercial so we've we've kind of surpassed that go us next video have you ever borrowed a book idea ten out of ten execution five out of ten the idea that you could someday be able to read pretty much any book in the world through a computer's pretty much exactly what we've got now but the execution in the commercial is again you got to leave your house and go to the library where from the library you would like watch some video of a flippin book that somebody was you know no that's not what happens I mean this is really more like going to the library and pulling up pictures on microfiche which is like old technology now like I feel bad giving it a low score on this because 15 years ago this probably was pretty accurate across the country without stopping for directions yes 10 out of 10 totally nailed it a three-day imagery on the screen is a bit of overkill we don't have that you know kind of experience exactly but the idea that a car will tell you where to go and actually give you a map showing you where to go we all have that now we have that on our phones we've gotten to the point where we don't even know how to find directions anymore without the car tell us where to go so yeah they totally nailed it next video or sent someone a fax from the beach [Music] and a company that'll bring it to you AT&T again 10 out of 10 nailed it the huge radio antenna on this early prototype ad thing is pretty hilarious to me but I've done that before I have been able to sit on a a beach with my computer and send an email by connecting it through Wi-Fi or whatever we can all do that on our phones or our tablets we have you know write on tablets where you can do exactly what that guy was doing everything in that video you could totally do that so yeah nailed it have you ever paid a toll without slowing down okay idea 10 out of 10 execution negative 10 this is honestly my favorite of the bunch because they they totally nailed that we'd be able to do this but the way they did it is hilarious yeah the idea they nailed it toll booths where you don't have to stop exactly but the way they do it the guide literally slides his credit card and a little credit card reader in his car like they're assuming that we're all gonna have credit card readers and our cars and or you're gonna need that in order to go past the toll when actually all you need is a little toll tag and actually here in Dallas anyway you don't even need that they take a picture of your license plate and they send you the bill so I mean like the the solution that we found in real life is like a thousand times better than what they showed in that commercial and people back then saw that commercials like wow that's amazing hilarious I mean in fairness I remember back when I was a kid seeing that commercial and thinking that was so cool oh yeah do a slide a car just go right through the Tollbooth thank God for technology okay last one let's see what we get bought concert tickets from the cash machines 10 10 out of 10 nailed it again the visuals on the screen are over kill we don't need a 3d fly-through of the stadium or anything like that but I'm gonna give it a 10 on both sides because I mean these are totally a thing if you go especially to see a movie there are kiosks you can just buy your tickets right there you can pick which seat you want right there on the kiosk but again we've actually progressed beyond this because this is also something you can do in your computer at home you can do it on your phone and it speaks again a little bit to that mindset that we had back then that you would have to leave your house to be able to take advantage of these technologies when in fact they are literally sitting in your pocket I mean back then the idea that you would have that functionality in something this size that you could carry around with you everywhere you go was just impossible to comprehend it's amazing how much has changed in 25 years and it's amazing how much these things have completely transformed the way we live our lives all right so let's look at the scorecard out of 16 of them seven of them I gave a 10 out of 10 I think they nailed it that's pretty much half the time now I will say that their overall conceit with all of these commercials that AT&T is the company is gonna bring it to you I'm gonna say that they're probably not right about that I think AT&T was part of the solution and they may have helped build the infrastructure that made all this possible but AT&T didn't make the phones that made all this possible AT&T didn't invent the technologies that got us to where we are today so a little bit overblown on their part I would say I think that if AT&T hadn't done it that somebody else would have but let me know what you think about that so here's the fun part here's what I want you to do I want you to think 25 years ahead and now can imagine you were doing you will campaign today and you were saying have you ever done this have you ever done that you will and think 25 years forward from today and try to imagine what the world's going to be like and try to imagine how we're gonna be living our lives back then I want to hear your thoughts on that in the comments below this is a serious endeavor the the best ones I'm gonna put in a video in some way shape or form I'll come back to this and I'll share the ones that I think are the most accurate looking forward new year new future ahead of us I think is a good time to do that and hey I mean if I get really crazy I might actually make little commercials out of them kind of do little parody commercials of the 18t ones actually looking forward from here see what we get I think this would be fun so I want to hear what you guys think but with that I'm going to shut this baby down I hope you guys had a wonderful New Year's Eve and have a fantastic and prosperous phosphorus I hope you have a phosphorus New Year now I hope you have a safe and wonderful 2018 and I want to thank you guys so much for the support you give me over this last year it's been an incredible year the channel has grown by leaps and bounds multiple times over when I from where I started and I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here and I thank you guys a million times over so happy new year have a great 2018 I will see you next Monday love you guys take care

Channel: Joe Scott

Views: 441,105

Keywords: answers with joe, AT&T, advertising, futurism, telecommunications, cell phones, smartphones, 1993, You will, 25 years later, technology, video conferencing, smart homes, smart watches

Id: Cb-z8CUC5lw

Length: 16min 24sec (984 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2018