Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The saga continues

So Netflix finally came to its senses and killed not just the Qwikster name, but also the concept and will continue to distribute both streaming content and DVDs on one site. Good.

The damage, however, has been done.

Brands are about trust, and trust comes from consistency. Lately, Netflix has been anything but.

Between its price increases, inexplicable communications, the decisions to split into two companies with two separate websites, and now this tersely worded post on their blog, Netflix has been as consistent and focused as an 8-year-old with ADHD at a carnival.

I know they're hoping this will all go away and maybe it will over time. But in these last 60 days they've given their subscribers a reason to look elsewhere, and over a million have taken them up on it.

Brands are fragile things. The only way to protect a brand, is to know what it stands for and work hard at being that every single day. All it takes is one mistake an you're the next Oldsmobile, as Netflix is finding out the hard way.

1 comment:

  1. The self-inflicted shot to their foot notwithstanding, Netflix still scares the shit out of Family Video: http://billgeist.typepad.com/blog/2011/10/fear-makes-you-stupid.html :)

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