118118 is a brand I've always liked. But as I've written about before, I think it's in danger of compromising its equity with new, cheap-to-run-so-high-in-profit services that simply don't work.
First of all came their mobile-based ask any question service. Which, as I discovered, will deliver you a rubbish answer for your premium rate call. Interestingly, there's now an option to watch the Q&As 'live' as they happen, with the poor quality there for all to see - more often than not, the response seems to be 'we don't know' to questions that a quick Google search easily answer.
And now for a cool 60p they're offering jokes texted to your phone…with a nice line in extra racism apparently. At least that's what two Asian students found out...twice.
What were they thinking!!! The PR shit storm has kicked off big time (a lot of it in the more right wing media interestingly), which can't do the brand any good (unless they plan to exploit the BNP mailing list to drum up support).
It's down to a rogue Filipino (which is spelt with an F not a PH, I've just discovered) operator apparently. Hmmm.
Anyway, just shows that trying to make a quick digital/mobile buck can be a damaging false economy.
