Age-old telecom company and brand AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) is launching a new advertising campaign to convince younger customers that the company is hip. Naturally, the new ads will be edgier and flashier, which apparently everyone in the 18-34 age bracket responds to according to most marketing mavens. But can a company just put some pizazz in their marketing and instantly gain younger customers, or are those customers smarter than these companies realize? Maybe a little of both, right?

Truth is that marketing is what makes most economies go 'round, and AT&T glitzing it up in this department is a testament to that claim. AT&T's purchase of the Cingular brand (and company, heh) earlier in 2007 meant that the company sees the future coming from wireless services and other areas instead of landline telephones and older technology that 10 years from now younger customers won't even know existed.

In a move back to the power of the Cingular brand (which AT&T dumped unceremoniously), the color orange will also be used as the company's primary corporate color instead of blue. The blue AT&T 'world swirl' logo has been around for decades in one form or another, and in addition to changing the color, will AT&T change the corporate logo as well? Maybe it is time to make this move, since many youngsters connect the current AT&T logo with the Death Star from Star Wars. That's not a good thing to have in mind when you're buying a phone.