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What were creatives really thinking when they developed 'The Number 118-118', the number for directory assistance?

Photo 'The Number 118-188': The number for directory assistance.

Creative team: Andy Dibb & Steve Little from ad agency WCRS, Londen.

Campaign: 40 second TV with lots of 10 second ads, such as the guys startling a guest in a hotel room by jumping out of the wardrobe and yelling 'Got your number'. We also used posters quite heavily.

Idea: To establish '118-118' as the number for directory assistance. Make it memorable, warm, talked about. Eventually there were '118-118' nights in pubs, '118-118' stag nights, '118-118' people at Wimbledon and got a lot of column inches in the tabloid press.

Where: We started with the numbers '118' making up two animated figures. The '8' being the head and body, the 1's being the legs. We did a bit of research and they were found to be a little cold, so we moved on to thinking about what real life people carry numbers, such as policemen, athletes, etcetera and put this idea to a few directors. One guy, Jim Hosking, came in with this great shot of American sixties runner Steve Prefontaine resplendent in a huge moustache. We new it was immidiately right. The American and UK clients were expecting a serious Nike type ad, but had the foresight to go along with a humourous route. We also went early with our campaign and captured the high ground early, which turned out to be crucial.

Satisfied: The campaign has been a big success, shifted product and picked up the odd award. The client and the agency are happy. Now it's evolving the brand onto years 2, 3 and 4 and keeping the work fresh and exciting.

Comment: It's like every good job, you have to have the right brief, right client, at the right time, and we did.

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posted by BlogFonk: Thursday, September 30, 2004 [#] Erms Suripatty