 1-800-COLLECT logo as of 2001 |
|
| Product type | Collect calling |
|---|---|
| Owner | Viiz Communications |
| Country | Canada |
| Introduced | 1993 |
| Markets | United States |
| Previous owners | Telecom USA |
| Tagline | “Save a Buck or Two” (1990s) |
1-800-COLLECT ( 1-800-265-5328 ) is a 1-800 numeral, owned and operated by Viiz Communications, which provides fix rate collect calling in the United States. The serve was launched by MCI in 1993. 1-800-COLLECT ‘s current rates start at $ 29.99 for the first 5 minutes, then $ 2.99 for each extra hour .
history [edit ]
establish [edit ]
prior to 1993, collect calling was a virtual monopoly held by AT & T as people were accustomed to dialing “ 0 ” to place collect calls. MCI moved aggressively to insert itself into the market by launching 1-800-COLLECT that class. By dialing 1-800-COLLECT, customers could connect with an automated MCI system which would directly place a cry to a designated welcome party for a divide of the monetary value of the AT & T avail for its operator-assisted collect calling. According to Advertising Age, 1-800-COLLECT went from concept to launch in less than three months. [ 1 ] Launched with a large marketing budget, within a year New York Magazine reported that MCI had “ stamped 1-800-COLLECT onto our consciousness with a gigantic market blitz ” aimed largely at Generation X consumers. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
Reading: 1-800-COLLECT – Wikipedia
contest [edit ]
Following the successful launch of 1-800-COLLECT, AT & T responded with a competing 1-800 earphone number providing discounted roll up calling, 1-800-OPERATOR. however, a significant fortune of calls intended for 1-800-OPERATOR misspelled “ Operator ” as “ Operater ”. [ 4 ] The numerical translation for 1-800-OPERATER ( 1-800-673-7283 ) was, at the time, assigned for routing to the MCI network, which capitalized on the big number of spelling errors by connecting those calls to 1-800-COLLECT. After several months, AT & T realized they were unwittingly directing a fortune of their business to MCI and terminated the 1-800-OPERATOR servicing, replacing it with 1-800-CALL-ATT. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] The local telephone companies, who lost a significant amount of business to both numbers, started fighting spinal column with ads showing how much elementary it was to good dial 0 ( Ameritech ‘s ad said “ Why push 800 numbers when you can just push one ? ” ) or later advertising calling cards as an alternative to calling person collect .
late years [edit ]
By the time of MCI ‘s bankruptcy in 2002, its 1-800-COLLECT occupation had fallen precipitously ascribable to the growing grocery store penetration of mobile phones and the decreasing popularity of yield phones, which had generated a large dowry of the collect calling business. After MCI was acquired by Verizon following the bankruptcy, the 1-800-COLLECT business was transferred to a modest Verizon auxiliary, Telecom USA. Though the service ‘s robust advertising budget was terminated, it continued to receive a trickle of commercial enterprise. In 2014 one caller, who “ still associated the 1-800-COLLECT phone number with fair roll up name rates … so potent were the company ‘s early ads ”, reported being charged $ 42.55 for a six-minute telephone call. [ 7 ] On November 1, 2016 Viiz Communications, a canadian caller, announced they had acquired 1-800-COLLECT for an undisclosed amount. [ 8 ]
market [edit ]
1-800-COLLECT advertise did not mention its association to MCI in ordering to avoid confusion from persons who might differently believe they had to be MCI customers to use the service, equally well as to attract AT & T “ loyalists ” disinclined to patronize an MCI service. [ 9 ]
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In 1994, 1-800-COLLECT became one of the inaugural six brands to use standard ads as part of a market campaign, purchasing a flight of ads on hotwired.com. [ 10 ] Beginning in 1994, MCI sponsored airshow original Sean D. Tucker under the 1-800-COLLECT stigmatize. [ 11 ] Tucker ‘s biplane regularly appeared at military and civilian airshows throughout North America for several years, subsequently transitioning to the 10-10-220 sword under MCI until the program ended in 2000. The service ‘s heavy spend on television advertise made 1-800-COLLECT ads, which featured celebrities including Phil Hartman, Wayne Knight, and Arsenio Hall, a omnipresent feature of the 1990s television receiver landscape in the United States. [ 7 ] In 2000, 1-800-COLLECT was being promoted with more than $ 160 million in annual advertise support by MCI. [ 12 ]
