AT&T is using ice cream trucks with their melodic tunes to deliver the message on their new U-verse IPTV service. Marketing teams cruise neighborhoods, go door to door, and even throw parties at apartment complexes.

Yes, I'll take a brownie ice cream sandwich and the U400 high speed Internet package please.

According to an article by Mark Peters in the Hartford Courant, "With music playing, the truck stops and a door opens on the side to reveal a flat-screen TV showing programming from U-verse, AT&T's answer to cable television."

"That's like a magnet," said Leslie Spiars, a marketing associate for AT&T. "You play the ice-cream truck music, and people come running."

Good idea, but what about the ice cream?

AT&T finds the marketing strategy useful in tackling the challenge of promoting the service in only the select areas of towns that its being offered. AT&T's vice president and general manager for Connecticut, Chad Townes said, "We don't want to confuse people."

Soooo...using an ice cream truck to promote a TV service isn't confusing?

The article goes on to discuss the challenges U-verse faces in demonstrating IPTV's advantages over cable or satellite such as instant channel changing, etc. This form of marketing allows AT&T to demonstrate these features first hand.

And I still want my ice cream.