Beyond the Black Box: AT&T Uses Claritas AI Optimization Platform to Redefine Campaign ROI

THE CHALLENGE

AT&T had long relied on optimization partners to improve campaign performance but faced a recurring obstacle: a lack of transparency. Traditional “black box” systems delivered results without explanation, leaving AT&T’s teams with little understanding of why certain audiences or creatives worked better than others. For a brand committed to maximizing ROI and building smarter, data-driven campaigns, this lack of clarity was a barrier to long-term improvement. AT&T needed a solution that could not only improve conversions, but also provide explainable insights into audience behavior, creative performance, and contextual drivers of success.

THE SOLUTION

Partnering with Claritas, AT&T deployed our AI Optimization engine designed to bring precision and transparency to every impression. Powered by the Claritas Identity Graph, the platform segmented audiences with unmatched granularity and dynamically matched 24+ creative variations to those audiences most likely to convert in real time. The AI engine considered contextual signals—such as time of day, geography, weather and device type—to continuously refine delivery and maximize engagement.

Unlike past systems, Claritas gave AT&T full visibility into why the AI made certain choices. Dashboards showed which creatives resonated with which segments, what times of day drove the most conversions, and which markets outperformed expectations. Campaign execution spanned open web display environments, where creative versions were adjusted on the fly to meet predicted user needs. To validate impact, AT&T structured the campaign to compare AI-driven delivery against both static control groups and traditional rules-based benchmarks.

THE CLARITAS EFFECT

The results exceeded expectations. With AI optimization enabled, AT&T achieved a 149% lift in conversions compared to baseline and a 23% improvement over the control group. More than 38,000 conversions were directly tied to AI-optimized impressions, many through sequential cross-device engagements tracked via the Claritas Identity Graph.

The insights gained were just as valuable as the performance lift. AT&T discovered that evening impressions—especially Monday through Wednesday—delivered stronger conversion rates, while urban markets such as New York, Detroit, D.C., and Philadelphia produced the highest ROI. Simpler creative versions with direct messaging consistently outperformed more generic executions, giving AT&T clear direction for future creative strategy.

By moving beyond the “black box,” Claritas gave AT&T both the performance gains it sought and the transparency it needed. The campaign not only redefined how AT&T measures ROI but also established a new standard for how explainable AI can transform advertising at scale.