Telecom pulls plug on ads

WORLD CLASS: The XT advertising campaign, featuring British Top Gear star Richard Hammond, has been panned.

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Telecom now has "significantly less advertising presence with some specific media outlets", its head of retail public relations, Nick Brown, says.

Telecom has suffered a public relations headache since its high-profile network collapsed last week for the fourth time since Christmas.

"It reflects two things: the current media environment we are in and ... that much of our focus currently is on activities like direct communications with customers rather than above-the-line advertising," he said.

The XT outage problems have featured in all major media outlets for the past few months and Telecom may think more advertising is too much exposure, says David Bibby, a senior lecturer in advertising and marketing at Auckland University of Technology.

"They have weighed up whether they are going to advertise when people might say, 'You haven't been able to deliver up till this point, why waste your money on [advertising] when you should be compensating clients who have been short-changed?'."

According to Nielsen figures, Telecom spent $49.4 million across all advertising channels for the year ending December 2008.

The company's XT Network advertising campaign, featuring British Top Gear star Richard Hammond, has been widely panned, especially after the network's public failures.

- © Fairfax NZ News