Eircom spent an unprecedented £30,000 (€38,000) a day on newspaper advertising during the first 18 days of its name change campaign. In the first four days alone, the outlay - at rate card figures - was close to £300,000.

According to Advanced Data Analysis, which tracked the campaign, this is the most intensive press spending campaign ever seen.

Even at that, the newspaper bill is the tip of the iceberg, with all outdoor media dominated by the Hello/Goodbye advertisements not to mention the television slots in the first Late Late Show breaks.