Finetwork has decided to hide in Luis Enrique, National coach of Spain and in adolescent influencers to try to give a face wash to his image that in recent months has deteriorated. As the customer base has skyrocketed, so have complaints about the service and especially the quality of the network when the company installs fiber over Vodafone’s coaxial network. This technological disadvantage has become a drag since the old ONO network cannot compete against the FTTH (Fiber to the home) networks of its competitors.
HFC vs FTTH
Before the massive deployment of fiber optics began in Spain in 2007, ONO was the operator that offered the highest speed to its customers and that is because the HFC cable was technologically ahead of the famous ADSL. Vodafone bought ONO and had several golden years in fixed broadband until Telefónica and later Orange, Jazztel or MásMóvil began to massively deploy fiber optics to the home (FTTH). It was the year 2010 and precisely the Vodafone cable network was evolving at a cost ten times cheaper than the fiber deployment thanks to the standard DOCSIS 3.0. The United States was setting the pace with more than 50 million homes with HFCs and everything seemed to indicate that it could compete from you to you with FTTH. Eleven years later, both technologies continue to coexist but the differences are becoming more notable. FTTH, in addition to lowering its deployment costs, allows operators such as Orange or Digi to offer 10 GB speed while cable has become a major problem for telecoms that use such technology. For instance, Euskaltel and other traditional cable operators have already started deploying FTTH to try to migrate their customers as quickly as possible.
Customers increase and so do complaints
Power without control is useless, this famous Pirelli slogan can be perfectly applied to the telecommunications sector. Finetwork has exploded its customer base but at the same time complaints are also increasing considerably. Despite the fact that the operator has opened more than 50 physical stores to provide after-sales service, a simple glance at specialized forums and product and service review pages is enough to realize that there are few differences compared to its rivals. For example, the 65% of reviews on Truspilot consider that the service is very bad while only 26% consider it excellent.
The most repeated problems have to do with problems in the service installation or an inadequate connection speed that is probably related to the use of HFC technology. Curiously in ADSLZone the second most read article about the company has to do with unsubscribe options.
Tiktokers to the rescue
The operator has launched its marketing artillery to seduce the youngest and, incidentally, improve its image with a powerful network campaign. This weekend a significant number of influencers with millions of followers have visited the Real Betis Balompié stadium, a team they sponsor, and then went to a disco with everything paid so they can upload their stories between dance and dance with the Finetwork advertising background. An action to say the least risky considering that these profiles charge thousands of euros for their publications and are mainly aimed at an audience under 18 years of age.
Among the influencers selected by Fitnetwork we find, for example, Claudia García (4.2 million on Tiktok), Andrea Palazón (2.5 million on Tiktok), Lucía Bellido (2.3 million on Instagram), Dani Marrero (1.2 million on TikTok) Laura Rouder (300,000 on TikTok), Laura Cambón (2.4 million on TikTok), Nestor Seller (68,000 on Instagram), _riverss_ (1.3 million on Instagram), among others. A large group of influencers who lead the younger audience and who were able to enjoy a spectacular day in Seville.
The telecommunications company has also launched a campaign using Luis Enrique as a claim and providing a telephone number where to contact him to win a trip, specifically the 681 948 108. Those who call will be met with a rather ridiculous utterance from a person trying to imitate the coach and saying exactly the following:
“You have called the manager of the Spanish team. Right now I can’t help you, but stay tuned because I’ll call you back if you happen to be the winner of a double ticket to see Spain in Milan. Are we? Also with Finetwork you have fiber and mobile for 34.90 euros per month. Do you understand? “
In the coming quarters we will be able to see if risky communication actions bear fruit or, on the contrary, other operators manage to stop the Fitnetwork boom, which has achieved a significant boost by positioning itself within the low cost segment with very aggressive offers.