For the fourth week running, TalkTalk has suspended its advertising—as well as its X Factor sponsorship—in an attempt to assure customers their banking details weren’t leaked during the cyber breach on 22 October.
This is a bold step for any company to take, especially given that the renewal of TalkTalk’s X Factor sponsorship is understood to be a £30m three-year deal. These dramatic measures were necessary, though, after the company was accused of not communicating efficiently with its customers after the big hacking scandal.
“Following the recent criminal Cyber Attack on the TalkTalk website,
where possible we have paused brand marketing for the time being to focus on supporting and reassuring our customers,” a spokesperson said. “That includes our X Factor idents and TV advertising.”
Not all advertising has been suspended, however. The spokesperson also said “We diverted some of our marketing spend to channels where we can keep customers updated and give them advice. Social media advertising has proved quite effective. That includes Facebook because it does offer you very rich targeting and Twitter because we can target people who follow us and are commenting on the issue.”
TalkTalk posted a video on its Twitter account telling customers that the only data exposed was information that would be readily available for anyone transferring money or sending a cheque, regardless of the breach. Chief executive, Dido Harding, claims that only partial banking details were leaked; so it would not be possible for hackers to withdraw money from these accounts.
Following the #CyberAttack on our website, our priority is helping you stay safe and secure. https://t.co/7Q8OWnCCWB
— TalkTalk (@TalkTalk_UK) October 24, 2015
