The Brand Man Speaks

Netflix brand evolving while unexpected competition grows from Redbox

I have been a fan of Netflix since its inception. The idea of ordering online, sitting back and having the movies come to your home and just mailing them back (at your leisure) when you're finished transformed how I watched movies. I hated going back and forth to Blockbuster stores incurring late fees and always wishing I had some DVD at home to watch on that unexpected rainy day or "special' evening.

Many didn't believe Netflix would survive. My mom's investment adviser said not to buy the stock despite my strong marketing intuition about the company and its future. To his surprise, but not mine, Netflix has done extremely well in this recession with its stock price doubling.

Netflix is actively competing with itself by offering more downloadable movies directly from the internet to laptop or home TV and smartly understands technology based entertainment is a rapidly moving target. I have yet to download a movie from them, although I have three free movies that are available to me to do so, because I think watching movies on my laptop is disappointing (size and impact-wise) and I have not bought the requisite equipment to send downloable movies directly to my big flat-screen TV....yet.

Despite their success, Netflix has strong competition from an unlikely source, Redbox. Redbox is a vending machine DVD rental business that was started by McDonald's during a time when McDonald's like Starbucks was looking for new revenue streams from ideas inconsistent with their core brands. McDonald's had some success with Redbox but sold the concept to Coinstar this past year after they started investing in the business in 2005.

I understand why Redbox can be successful. $1 rentals of recent releases sold like buying Coke from a vending machine in thousands of locations. However, it doesn't work for me. I hate the idea of having to take the DVD back to some place especially if I am not going that way and find dropping the DVD in the mail so easy and effortless. But I am obviously increasingly part of the minority. Redbox's old fashioned delivery system is growing fast even as movie downloads (on the other side of the technology spectrum) are also developing steam. I suspect I will go the download path far sooner than renting from a Redbox, but that's just me.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Sly Stallone: Does using illegal physical enhancement drugs tarnish the Rocky brand?-by Eli

Sylvester Stallone the actor/celebrity behind the incredibly successful "Rocky" movie franchise was recently charged for illegal possession and transportation of a growth hormone HGH upon entering Australia to promote his latest Rocky movie.

It is not new news that athletes and actors (playing athletes) have used performance enhancing drugs to buff up their bodies....steroid and other performance improving drug use investigations have been heating up lately with allegations of abuse by top name pro athletes in nearly every sport from baseball to cycling.

On one hand given how the American (primarily male) public worships the "superman" athlete...causing increasing use of steroids among young up and coming athletes and even everyday "Joe's" in the gym....I don't fully understand why the stigma remains any longer. Use of performance enhancement products seems to have become a cost of entry into any sport, especially if one wants to be at the top of the game and earn the big bucks....this doesn't mean it is right, but our society "rewards" the use by idolizing these "larger than life" people. The truly natural athlete is virtually obsolete, (see related post about "real men" Real Men are back)

Speaking of natural...there is a problem, however, for the "Rocky" brand with Sly's illegal activities. The Rocky character was built on hard work, sweat, dedication to be great, the underdog prevails....and not artificial enhancement. One might say, "Oh, it was just a movie", yet this is the point. The "brand identity" was created around this everyman becoming champion the "natural" way...that was its appeal.

It likely was not common knowledge that Sly used performance enhancement drugs to get "big" and "ripped" to play Rocky from the get go. With this news so public now, it is probably a good thing that this most recent entry into the Rocky Balboa franchise is the last. The credibility of the movie, the character and the real man himself...as the public unquestionably linked the actor with the part as "one"....is now at stake....and the Brand Promise....that anyone can prevail against the toughest of odds no matter what (including how old you are) has been broken.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli