The Number ups parody of BT with Post-It campaign

Ravi Chandiramani

August 21, 2003

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The Number ups parody of BT with Post-It campaign

The Number is planning a broadside at BT's £10m directory enquiries Post-It note advertising campaign, as the market reaches fever pitch with 192's switch-off at midnight on Saturday.

It is understood to have received approval from the BACC to run a TV ad featuring its 118-118 runners covered in Post-It notes in a parody of BT's heavyweight campaign for 118500. The ad, by WCRS, will carry the line 'You don't need a Post-It note to remember our number'.

The Number's move will reignite a bitter rivalry with BT, triggered when it ran an ad directly parodying a BT 'Public Notice'-style press ad informing people of the number change, in the same editions of several national newspapers (Marketing, May 8). BT subsequently summoned investigators, suspecting a leak of its media schedule.

BT unleashed its 118500 campaign by St Luke's last weekend, urging consumers to 'make a note' of its number.

BT's director of marketing services Amanda MacKenzie said: "If they (The Number) have to resort to mimicking others' creative ideas, either theirs isn't strong enough or they're hiding behind something."

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