Dial design chatline for a cheap pitch

London design group Gregory Bonner Hale has adopted an unusual tactic to inform clients and suppliers of its recent telephone number change, by placing an advertisement in the chatline section of its local free newspaper.

Using phrases such as ‘Instant client satisfaction in under 30 seconds!’, ‘Live, Direct Chat’ and ‘Now with Voicemail – No Boring Intros!’, GBH also included three ‘suitably whimsical’ pictures of its directors, before mailing 150 copies of the Ealing and Hounslow Informer to clients.

‘We decided to use the free paper because of its perfect downmarket appearance. The hilarious ad sits very comfortably among the other sex, tarot and betting lines in the paper,’ explains GBH director Peter Hale.