Blockbuster’s Debt Load and Marketing (Take 2)

28 Apr, 2010 By: Stephanie Prange

I’ve gotten several responses to my last blog about Blockbuster’s debt strangling its essential marketing effort. One studio respondent noted, “The ‘open the door and here they come’ days have long been over.”

Yesterday, the chain made an attempt to tout its new-release advantage with a press release.

Here are some excerpts:

“Blockbuster Inc. today announced availability of the hit movie, It's Complicated, from Blockbuster in stores, by mail, or digitally, a full four weeks before it will be available through some competitors. Blockbuster's early advantage reflects its ongoing agreement with Universal Studios to provide customers with the opportunity to rent hit movies the day they are released. Blockbuster also has early availability of other box office hits like Sherlock Holmes and the highest grossing film of all-time, Avatar, as well as other upcoming new releases such as Tooth Fairy, Valentine's Day, and Invictus.

…

“Blockbuster is the only multichannel provider that has every hot new movie on the day of its release. For example, customers can rent a movie like Avatar through the Blockbuster By Mail service, return it to a Blockbuster store after watching, and exchange the movie for It's Complicated for more home entertainment. In addition, customers can access movies through Blockbuster Direct Access, a new service that gives customers in-store access to the more than 95,000 titles carried in Blockbuster's distribution centers. Customers can also access new releases from Blockbuster through any Blockbuster On Demand-enabled devices, including PCs, select Samsung products, most TiVos, and the new T-Mobile HTC HD2.”

Wow, that’s a mouthful. And certainly it’s appropriate for a press release, but depending on news outlets picking this up just isn’t going to cut it in my opinion. Blockbuster needs a massive advertising campaign, something catchy and memorable, like that Netflix campaign where all the movie characters are sitting in a room ready to be sent out. It needs to be a visual and succinct representation of what Blockbuster can offer. But, like I said, without some massive spending, that won’t happen.

Blockbuster’s Debt Load and Marketing (Take 2)

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