Yell extends 118 247 campaign following success

Yell, the international directories business, is extending the advertising campaign for its directory enquiries service 118 24 7, after recording a 70% increase in call volumes to its UK call centres.

The 30 second TV ad, which features cult internet cartoon character “Magical Trevor”, has now been extended to 60 seconds and has been posted on YouTube. It is believed that it will eventually launch on TV, though this is yet to be confirmed.

The 60 second version includes new scenes illustrating a range of business services that people call 118 24 7 for.

The “Directory Heaven” campaign, which also encompasses radio and online, was created by Rapier and launched on March 20.

Matthew Bottomley, director of new media product marketing, Yell UK, says the decision to post the extended ad on YouTube was prompted after it experienced a “tremendous uplift in calls” to its directory service.

The current 30 second execution has also attracted over 260,000 views on YouTube in less than four weeks.

In comparison, since The Number 118 118 Ghostbusters-themed “Who you gonna call?” TV ad was posted on YouTube almost three months ago, it has attracted just over 60,000 views. The campaign was created by Brooklyn Brothers.

Bottomley says: “People love its wacky cartoon style, its very catchy tune and the fact that a household brand like ours has embraced a character such as Magical Trevor who has such a big following on the internet.”