http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/35073
M1 Ad Accidentally Promotes Rival Telco
By: Elizabeth Low, Singapore
[size=0.9em]Published: 5 hours 14 min ago
M1 AD BLUNDERS STARHUB
Singapore - In an unfortunate blunder, M1 has published a full page ad in the Straits Times promoting the hotline number of rival StarHub. The ad, promoting M1's fibre broadband connection, ran on the front page of Straits Times' Home section, asking readers to visit M1's site, or call 1633 for more information on its deals. However the number to the customer care hotline was for its rival StarHub. M1 Shop's hotline is actually 1623. "The misprint was an oversight, and the error has been rectified," a spokesperson from M1 toldMarketing, declining to comment further. The agency in charge of the print ads, HG Advertising, also declined to comment on the matter. Marketing understands M1's creative agency Y&R did not work on the ads. Since being spotted by online news portals such as HardWareZone and Yahoo, web users have been commenting on the mistake, with some predicting the publicity would bode well for both telcos.
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