Telecom company’s ‘Holiday Hotline’ returns for sixth year

Recent Communications Inc., a Montgomery County-based telecommunications company, has kicked off its sixth annual Holiday Hotline.

Originally started in 2018 as a festive way to drive awareness about the small, family-owned and operated business, the event has become a tradition, using whimsy and humor and iconic holiday characters.

“With our holiday hotline, the goal has always been brand awareness and the opportunity to showcase our creative marketing ideas as a small business,” Charlotte Conroy, managing partner, Recent Communications, said in an emailed response to questions. “The technology used for the holiday hotline is part of the solutions we design, implement and support for the small and midsized businesses and nonprofits we fuel. This helps us compete with our big-name competitors.”

Each year, the initiative features a little twist, and this year is no exception.

“Last year we launched the hotline with texting, but it was more one-way,” Conroy said. “This year, I wanted to showcase more of the interactive capabilities with the platform and the way we’re doing this is with jokes. There’s more interaction with the hotline this year as the individual must reply to the character in order to hear the punchline of the joke. The jokes are fun for all ages, and we hope it brings joy to those who participate.”

Through Dec. 31, fans of the hotline can exchange messages with one or more of the characters and receive a festive joke in return.

To participate, individuals can text the Recent Communications Holiday Hotline number at 484-552-2180 using one of the characters’ names —  Frosty, Buddy, Rudolph or Santa — as a keyword.

A text to Santa, for example, gets a return message that says in part: “Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s Santa and I have a joke for you. Who delivers Christmas presents to cats and dogs?” The individual then texts a second keyword to hear the answer — no spoilers are being shared here.

The 2022 Holiday Hotline was the first to use the text communication as a way to support last year’s launch of Recent’s business texting solutions.

In its first year, people were able to call the hotline and leave voicemail messages for Frosty, Buddy, Rudolph and Santa.

In 2019, the hotline featured a philanthropic initiative to benefit the nonprofit Simon’s Heart, while 2020’s hotline featured a sweepstakes aimed at those who were working from home due to the pandemic.

In 2021, callers to the hotline were asked to leave voicemails sharing short stories of kindness, joy, generosity and hope. Select messages and stories were then shared on the company’s social media pages and was a way for the company to leverage its technology to bring someone joy, Conroy said at the time. Last year, individuals texted the characters and got a response back.

Conroy said the company works as a collaborative technology partner to design business phone solutions for small and midsized businesses and nonprofits.

She previously told MediaNews Group that the company prides itself not just on its range of solutions, but its support, responsiveness and expertise.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Collegeville, Recent Communications Inc. is a family-owned and operated telecommunications company that designs, installs and support business phone systems, VoIP services and communications solutions for businesses across a variety of industries. Many of the company’s customers are headquartered in Berks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, but the company also works with customers throughout the mid-Atlantic region, Conroy said.