Qwikster – Was Netflix Crazy Like a Fox?

Much has been made in the past few weeks about Netflix’s aborted attempt to split into two different services in conjunction with a new pricing structure. The initially announced strategy, keeping their streaming service as a product of Netflix, and moving DVD distribution to a new service called Qwikster – each service run separately and each priced at $8 a month. After outcry from their customer base and pillorying from the media, Netflix decided to keep DVD rentals by mail under the Netflix banner after all.

While I’m not completely certain, I have a sense that this back-and-forth was the plan all along. Here’s why:

First, look at where Netflix is today: providing the same exact services they were earlier this year, but are now charging double for it. Netflix was a great value at $8 a month for a combined streaming and DVD delivery service, and it’s probably not a terrible deal at $16 a month, but when you raise your prices 100% without any change in service model, you’re anticipating pushback from your customers.

Is it possible that the announcement of the DVD business being moved to a new company called Qwikster was a straw man that Netflix intended to knock down all along? Was that initial announcement meant to blunt the impact of a doubling in price of Netflix in a “You think that’s bad? It could have been worse…” kind of way? Continue reading

Tags: branding, business model, DVD delivery service, DVD distribution, netflix, Qwikster

Black Friday. There’s an app for that.

Even though retailers have boasted wallet-busting holiday savings since Back To School sales ended, there is still competitive pressure for a mammoth take on Black Friday. So much so that some stores are infringing on Thanksgiving Day by offering online specials that evening. And some notable Big Box stores will be opening at Midnight to entice you to spend your holiday budget with them.

But alas, the consumer still has the upper hand in this melee. While waiting in line for the doors to open in the wee hours, or waiting for a parking spot, smartphone owners will already be shopping online getting great deals. Mobile search will play a key role this year as smartphone owners discover the joy of searching “Black Friday deals” to be met with search returns of popular e-commerce sites built for the small screen featuring “phone busters.” Some web sites are a resource aiding the shopping process by providing a comprehensive collection of the holiday newspaper ads and store routing maps in malls.

And of course, now there is a Black Friday app. On this handy app, you can view ads, create and manage a shopping list, comparison shop and plan a physical route to get to the stores you need to get to, unless of course you’re shopping online.

As a guy who disdains the shopping crowds, Black Friday has been something for me to avoid. But now that I can sit at Caribou Coffee sipping a cup of holiday mocha and do my shopping from my iPhone, this could be a whole new exciting day for me.

“Siri, please find me deals.”

Tags: Black Friday, Mobile Marketing, mobile search

Private label continues the march

The Private Label Trade Show was a big event last week here in Chicago.  This year’s show was a major endeavor, with over 2,000 exhibitors representing a mind-boggling assortment of food, beverage, wellness and home goods products.  From high-end chocolates to pork rinds … even organics, one in four products purchased today are store brands – a category growing twice as fast as national brands.

So, what drives the consumer to buy private label?  While the private label industry shed the “cheap bland generic” image long ago, store brands are still a bargain.  Without the heavy spending on advertising and promotion, store brands won big during the last recession.

A 2011 Mintel study found that nearly half of respondents believe that store branded products are of better quality today than they were five years ago.  And over 60% of shoppers believe that there’s no real difference between name brand and private label in the key categories of dairy, canned and shelf-stable products.

What impressed me most about the products on display at the PLMIA show is the move toward higher quality, more innovative products that store brands are seeking.  Many retailers have invested in their own brand reputation that impacts the perception of the items that carry their name … often, products with enhanced health and wellness attributes as differentiators.  Trust your retailer, trust their brand.  Trader Joe’s has made a fortune on that philosophy.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the plethora of “sanitary wipes”, particularly the one pictured here.  In chocolate!

Not sure I’d ever buy that, no matter what the label.  What store branded “labels” or products do you buy?

Tags: CBD, Lori Colman, PLMIA, private label, Private label show

Mobile – the NEW Lead Generation Tool

One just needs to observe pedestrians walking down the street to see how mobile devices have drastically changed our behavior from information-on-demand (the desktop model) to information-always-available (the mobile model). Smartphone users have developed a relentless habit for immediate access to information and stored entertainment. “What did we do without it” never rang truer than for mobile devices that provide us constantly flowing email and messaging, mapping and location based services, and on-the-fly reference resources. By the way, 17% of smartphone owners have bumped into someone accidentally this past week, so please keep your head up.

The implications of this behavior-shift significantly affect marketing plans targeting prospective new students. Here’s what you should know. Continue reading

Tags: Gen Y, Higher Education, Mobile Marketing

Family farming vs. Industrial agriculture. What’s your take?

With Farmer’s Market season winding down here in the Midwest, venturing back into the grocery store environment seems a bit alien.  While a visit to the weekly market rates high in entertainment value, the best part is talking with the folks who grow or make the products they’re selling … and we’re eating.  Family farming vs. industrial ag … which are you more comfortable with?

The just-released research findings of the 2011 Consumer Trust Survey from The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) would suggest that Americans are growing ever more disenchanted about the state of our global food industry.  CFI is a non-profit coalition of agribusiness companies and industry associations whose mission is “to build consumer trust and confidence in today’s food system.”

Here is a paragraph from the study’s conclusion:

Consumers aren’t sure today’s agriculture still qualifies as farming. Why? Generational and geographic distance between farmers and consumers, technological advances in farming, and changes in farm size and structure. We see consumer alienation from agriculture and the food system expressed through concerns about nutrition, food safety, affordability, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and other issues.

The study went on to gauge consumer’s attitudes toward farming styles and deduced that people believe that family farmers share their values; “big ag” simply does not.

Recently, various industry groups have begun to unite (such as the new US Farmer & Rancher Alliance) in attempts to improve the image of industrial farming and production.  So we’re starting to see some interesting marketing and PR programs (which may be called “farm-washing” by some) such as Monsanto’s Americasfarmers.com appear across multiple media channels.

Yet, the CFI’s own research points to the difficulty in changing public perceptions with the following sentence taken from their presentation:  No single program or initiative will reverse the growing trend of consumer alienation from today’s farms.

Can marketing solve these issues of consumer perception?  Or are we likely to see bigger changes ahead in how our world produces food … and what or how we choose to buy?  What do you think?

Tags: agribusiness, CBD, Center for Food Integrity, Consumer Trust Survey, family farming, food, industrial agriculture, ingredients, Lori Colman, Sustainability

Process Insights Highlight Higher Education Symposium

Whether you are looking to revitalize your brand, establish robust metrics and measurement or better target adult learners, there was plenty of  roadmaps to success presented at the American Marketing Association’s 2011 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education.

Themed ConnectEd, the conference built more than a solid case for focusing on integrated marketing efforts, but delivered practical how-to advice for accomplishing goals.  Starting with the keynote address on Monday morning, Richard Lyons, Dean, Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, outlined how to create an authentic brand.  His clear steps included leveraging the processes of change management laid out by John P. Kotter renowned Harvard Business School professor.  Chief among his advice is to create a sense of urgency.  Lyons encouraged institutions to use capital campaigns as the impetus to drive brand urgency.  Critical to Berkeley’s success was also its ability to elevate faculty involvement to the level of ownership.  Otherwise, they interpret “brand initiatives” to mean things they don’t have to do.

Another process highlighted at the symposium was Purdue University’s program for building a culture a measurement.  There was clear envy and furious note taking  in the room as Teri Lucie Thompson, Vice President of Marketing and Media  listed their metrics which included everything from awareness and web analytics to QR code scans to app feature usage.  Most importantly, the quantitative data she and her team analyze often leads the Board of Trustees to provide incremental funding for marketing.

These are just two examples of specific content that provided action plans that could be applied immediately to any institution’s marketing activity.  But they boil down to important process take-aways:  build momentum and measure everything.

Tags: 2011 Symposium for Higher Education, AMA, Berkeley, ConnectEd, Haas School of Business, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, higher ed marketing, Higher Ed Sypmosium, higher education insights, Higher education marketing, John P. Kotter, Purdue, Purdue University, Richard Lyons, symposium for the marketing of higher education, Teri Lucie Thompson, UC Berkeley, University of California Berkeley