24 March 2005
100% White Pages Screw Up!
This week's release of the eagerly anticipated Telecom 2005 White Pages proved to be a blessing for one company and a
total disaster for another.
2005 could prove an interesting year for public relations consultancy Hill & Knowlton (NZ) Ltd. With 12 newly opened branches across the wider Auckland area, and expanding their expertise into
home appliances and electronics, Hill & Knowlton is raising the bar in terms of the typical public relations offer.
In related news, the whiteware and electronics chain ‘Hill & Stewart 100%’ lost 12 of its stores.
A simple White Pages typo misplaced the name ‘Hill & Stewart 100%’, and saw what was once a two-line listing for Hill & Knowlton morph into 13 branches and 14 different contact numbers. By 3pm Hill & Knowlton had already fielded one call from a woman asking about a fridge.
“As good as our consultants are, I think we’d have some difficulty selling whiteware and electronic goods to the
public,” said Paul Hemsley of Hill & Knowlton.
“I won’t be surprised if we get some bizarre calls this year. I guess the upside is we got a full two inches in the
White Pages without having to pay for the extra column space.”
ENDS