GRATUITEL OFFERS ADVERTISING ON FREE PHONE SERVICE
By Adnews Staff
Gratuitel Communications of Montreal will launch a free long distance telephone service within a month on which advertisers will be able to place ads. Called FreePhone, the service will initially be available in the Montreal and Ottawa-Hull regions. Shortly after, it will be available in Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivieres, both in Quebec, as well as in Toronto and Hamilton, Ont. To use FreePhone, consumers will enter an access number and a local telephone number. They will be greeted with a voice message welcoming them to the service, then they will hear a 20-second ad. When the ad is finished, they will enter the phone number they are calling. Company spokesperson Mel Leitman told Adnews that advertisers will get one-on-one advertising and could reach 100,000 subscribers in an hour. FreePhone will be promoted using some print ads, but Gratuitel is mainly hoping the service will be promoted by word-of-mouth.