Blockbuster vs. Netflix - More Comparison Advertising?
Blockbuster has been playing catchup to the startup Netflix company for sometime now. As recent numbers released show, Blockbuster is making progress; even though both companies have shown near 50% increases in 3rd quarter revenue (Blockbuster's DVD mail division).
Recently, Blockbuster has come out swinging. Sponsoring Pre-game, Halftime and Post-game footballs shows for both college and professional. New :30. spots highlight Blockbuster as a superior choice to the rival Netflix because of the option for free in-store rentals. This campaign has definitely raised a few eyebrows and I predict will continue to shine strong for Blockbuster in 2007.
Comparison advertising for those companies trailing a category leader is nothing new. Recently I have highlighted Apple's comparison advertising and have talked about other notable comparison campaigns. It is worth noting that it is rare for a category leader to initiate or respond to comparison advertising as Anheuser-Busch did when Miller launched an attack/comparison campaign.
2006 lead to some spoof rebuttals for Apple's comparison advertising campaign on YouTube and other Internet video sites, but it is not commonplace for a category leader to acknowledge such a campaign because it only highlights the initial advertisements.
I believe however, that a rebuttal campaign might be necessary for Netflix, even though, according to a recent Forbes.com article, Netflix is the leader in the category with a customer base is 5.7 million compared to Blockbusters' 2 million online rental customers.
Being able to pickup and drop-off DVDs is something that Netflix can't do, but highlighting its strength of size and speed versus Blockbuster may stop the bleeding that Blockbusters' campaign may be causing. While stopping the bleeding is not the only thing that Netflix needs to do, establishing their own drop-off locations is something that needs to be addressed.
As it is the biggest competitor to both of these services is Video-On-Demand options that easily let consumers view/download the movies right to their TV. If both of these companies aren't addressing this problem then they are leaving themselves open for more competition.
Recently, Blockbuster has come out swinging. Sponsoring Pre-game, Halftime and Post-game footballs shows for both college and professional. New :30. spots highlight Blockbuster as a superior choice to the rival Netflix because of the option for free in-store rentals. This campaign has definitely raised a few eyebrows and I predict will continue to shine strong for Blockbuster in 2007.
Comparison advertising for those companies trailing a category leader is nothing new. Recently I have highlighted Apple's comparison advertising and have talked about other notable comparison campaigns. It is worth noting that it is rare for a category leader to initiate or respond to comparison advertising as Anheuser-Busch did when Miller launched an attack/comparison campaign.
2006 lead to some spoof rebuttals for Apple's comparison advertising campaign on YouTube and other Internet video sites, but it is not commonplace for a category leader to acknowledge such a campaign because it only highlights the initial advertisements.
I believe however, that a rebuttal campaign might be necessary for Netflix, even though, according to a recent Forbes.com article, Netflix is the leader in the category with a customer base is 5.7 million compared to Blockbusters' 2 million online rental customers.
Being able to pickup and drop-off DVDs is something that Netflix can't do, but highlighting its strength of size and speed versus Blockbuster may stop the bleeding that Blockbusters' campaign may be causing. While stopping the bleeding is not the only thing that Netflix needs to do, establishing their own drop-off locations is something that needs to be addressed.
As it is the biggest competitor to both of these services is Video-On-Demand options that easily let consumers view/download the movies right to their TV. If both of these companies aren't addressing this problem then they are leaving themselves open for more competition.
Labels: Blockbuster, Comparison Advertising, Netflix
posted by Advertainer at 5:59 PM
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