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Has Opal shot themselves in the foot with a witless campaign? - 22/11/10

Opal Telecom has launched a rather strangely named Future Improvement Campaign which seems to consist of a tirade against a strange organisation called the Old Telecoms Giant aka BT.

They have a video where a group of people demand the products that Opal sells and the Old Telecoms Giant, who appears like a boiler on stilts, tells them why they can’t have them.

The leaflet they have produced is in a similar vein with Old Telecoms Giant saying

things like:-

“Things are moving too fast these days. All these businesses wanting change make me sick. A bit of patience and a good long wait will do them good. I believe in a more traditional network. I pledge to keep our business communications slow, simple and future resistant.”

“Britain's legacy network once ruled supreme. I will not allow you to desert 100 years of tradition. In my glorious empire businesses did what they were told. Britain's businesses need discipline and I will rule them with an iron fist.”

This is clearly garbage and a complete misrepresentation of BT. It really shows a complete lack of judgement when companies have to sink to such levels to try and justify their sales.

Sure, BT have suffered from years of bad management and made some appalling business decisions. However, they have always maintained high standards of engineering and behaved in an honourable way – when they could simply have crushed the opposition dead.

Declaring an Interest

I think I should declare an interest in this beyond the normal. A few months ago I bought some shares in Talk Talk who own Opal. I paid £5,000 for them and they are now worth £5,168. So I want my company to do well and succeed - but this type of negative knocking advertising does no one any favours.

Comparing Opal and Cloudnet’s commitments

On a more positive note, it is interesting to compare Opal’s commitment from the same leaflet to those of Cloudnet

Opal	Cloudnet
Opal deals exclusively with Britain's businesses. We won't divide our attention between you and domestic customers.	Cloudnet deals only with Britain's SMEs. We only deal directly no reps.
Opal will focus on the services you need, prioritise your data and make sure you get the fastest speeds at the lowest prices.	Cloudnet focuses on the services you need, prioritise your voice traffic and make sure you get the best quality
Personal service pledges... will get onsite installation and consultation from an Opal engineer to suit their bespoke needs.	Cloudnet sells services that simply work – no need for extensive consultation
Big businesses... will have dedicated account managers and technical consultants on location to ensure the right solution is implemented without any company downtime.	Cloudnet concentrates on SMEs delivering big business services at a fraction of the price.
Partners... will receive strategy and planning support from Opal's senior consultants and enjoy selling the very latest in IP technology.	Cloudnet only deals directly – no partners to demand commission
Everyone... will get local face-to-face and telephone support when needed.	Everyone… gets free friendly support when ever wanted

Conclusion

It is difficult enough for customers to make informed decisions with counter claims from competing organisations. The least the industry can do is to tell the truth.