Warrantywise Lawrence Whittaker: Yorkshire company's ad campaign takes a twist as half the name missed from motorway banner

Lawrence Whittaker, the owner of Warrantywise, recently embarked on a billboard advertising campaign that took an unexpected turn.

The business owner decided to capitalise on the advertising space along the M62 to promote his business Warrantywise.

However, the campaign took a twist when the billboards went up, missing a crucial element – half of the company name.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Mr Whittaker said he couldn’t believe the blunder.

"We designed the advert ourselves and we sent it over to them,” he explained.

When the ad company sent over the proofs and said the billboards had been put up is when Mr Whittaker noticed the mistake.

He added: "I can't believe it so I just said ‘why did you even put them up you know why would you just like not just realise before you put them up?’ but they're like ‘oh we just haven't realised’.”

Despite the initial frustration, Lawrence found humour in the situation. "It's a bit embarrassing, but what can you do?" he said.

Mr Whittaker said he had originally thought up the advertising campaign plan after returning from a meeting in Cambridge.

“I noticed some empty billboards along the M62 saying “advertise here”, he explained.

"So I rang the company up and you know I said oh I'd like to take it, I said how many empty billboards have you got? He says oh we've got six at the minute.

“I said oh well I'll take all six and I'd like to get 50 eventually.

“The idea is to have the passing traffic on the motorway which is such a good market for us because obviously, we sell car warranties."

The blunder occurred when the billboards, placed by a company called Drive-By Ads, were missing the word “warranty” from Warranty Wise.

Carrying on with the humour, Mr Whittaker shared the picture of the billboard mistake to X (formerly Twitter).

It has since gone viral, with approximately 150,000 people seeing the post.

Reflecting on the incident, Mr Whittaker said: “One guy said, 'I like it because only clever people can find your company. You've got to guess the first word.'"

Despite the hiccup, Whittaker is optimistic that the issue will be rectified soon. "I hope they have the new ones up as soon as they can print the new banners.

“I hope it'll be rectified ASAP.

“It just seems like such a crazy mistake.”

The Yorkshire Post has contacted Drive-By Ads for a response.