Monday 18 July 2011

Adventures in Marketing: Some unsolicited advice for Netflix

Who doesn't enjoy giving unsolicited 'expert' advice? Turns out it's fairly fun to read as well, which is why I love the idea of this 'Free Consultation' over at The Awl. The idea - that airlines could humanise their operations and curry some customer loyalty by letting booking customers know exactly which pilots and cabin crew they'll be flying with - is fun and rather neat, and I bet no-one's actually thought of it before.

It's also nice to see unsolicited advice being doled out as a positive concept, rather than a reaction to something gone wrong - which, if we're honest, is where the rest of us usually begin. (As self-designated squadron leader of Pedant Patrol, I'm a dreadful one for this, particularly when it comes to duff promotional text on websites and product packaging - but that's another story entirely.) Sadly, the only nugget of uninvited marketing wisdom I can offer right now is in this vein, to the beleaguered Netflix (that's the US Love Film, Brit readers), whose recent price hikes have inspired 90% of the US population to riot:

Guys -
In all honestly I don't really care that you've put your prices up by $6. What I do care about it finding out from an outraged Internet a whole seven hours before you get around to notifying me, your customer, by email. 
Now, let's not fall out again, as I have got a whole six seasons of The X-Files to rediscover via your Watch Instantly service and there's no way I'm actually buying those.
Carly 

That feels better. Now, what life-changing unsolicited advice would you offer to Big Bizniss, for a 'nominal fee'?

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