The introduction of gofree, Indigo's free Internet service last week, was kept so hush-hush that even Indigo employees were only told about it the day before.
A teaser campaign created by Doherty Advertising was run on radio in the fortnight before the launch but it gave no indication whatsoever that it was for an IT product.
Republic of Ireland soccer manager Mick McCarthy did the voiceover which also featured a football chant.
Incidentally, the agency chose Mr McCarthy for the radio campaign because his voice is instantly recognisable and they felt it was a bonus when they found he was, as they put it, "IT literate". The campaign was managed with military precision. The advert was pulled at exactly 1 p.m. on the day of the launch and replaced by a new version that gave all the information about go-free.
A week long burst of press ads this week was followed by extensive point-of-sale material all for £500,000 €635,324).
While Indigo now offers Internet connection for nothing, consumers are still being asked to pay 99p for the connection CD.
The reason for the nominal charge is twofold, according to Indigo - paying even a small charge apparently encourages consumers to value the offer and also the retailers have to be earn something from the deal.
