Commentary
The Similarity Between Netflix & The Occupy Movement
- by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, October 19, 2011
In my very first marketing class at Syracuse U., I learned that marketing is futile if you don’t have your message ironed out. It’s a simple idea: if you’re going to broadcast something, be sure you can explain it succinctly and clearly. If you can’t, then you risk missing the opportunity, or in the worst possible case completely imploding.
Netflix was the worst possible case, when a company decides to broadcast a message without thinking it through, and it literally imploded as a result. In four short weeks Netflix devolved from darling of the Internet business community to laughing-stock and MBA case-study-in-the-making. Company strategists attempted to make a change without thinking through the consequences of that change, and then doing a full about-face to rectify the mistakes they made. In the process they angered millions of customers, lost a bunch as well, and jeopardized their relationship with all who remain. I personally haven’t dropped Netflix yet, but it’s only because the competition hasn’t yet seized the opportunity. If Amazon and/or Apple create a streaming service to rival Netflix, then I could be as good as gone. It’s only a matter of time.
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What has me most puzzled is this whole Occupy movement. It feels like it’s supposed to be important (and it probably is in many respects), but it’s lacking a clear message. I know people are protesting something, but if I ask 25 people I will get 25 different answers to what they’re protesting. In marketing terms, that seems to be a mistake. If you have the attention of so many people, shouldn’t you focus that attention on something that needs to be addressed?
I understand the grand scope; that things are not right. I can understand that and even sympathize. The world needs to get better, people need to be held accountable for their actions, and the “American Dream” needs to be restored to millions of people -- I get it. That being said, any marketer would advise “them” (whoever they actually are) to come up with a messaging platform. Come up with something you can point at and say, “This is what we want to have done.” Point to Congress and hold them accountable for something specific. If you don’t, then you risk devolving into what Netflix has now become: down to a shell of what you were, and capable of being picked apart by your competition (whoever they may be).
Trust me; I am not an innately political person, and I am not siding with or against the people involved in the Occupy movement (or even Netflix -- yet). I unilaterally think all politics is absurd and that everyone in government should be limited to terms of service, and held accountable for the foolishness of their actions. What I am saying is that you have a window of opportunity in any marketing situation and the Occupy Movement is simply marketing at this stage, until they have a defined objective. That window is small, and it is fleeting. You have to grab the attention of your audience when they’re looking, and drag them to where you want them to be.
There is a simple exercise that I use, and maybe the people at Netflix or in the Occupy movement could use it as well. I had a client that ingrained in me his “law of threes”: if you can’t explain something in three sentences or less, then you don’t have the message ironed out. It’s too complicated. My suggestion for Netflix: describe in three sentences what you do and the benefit you offer to your customers, then stick to it. To the Occupy movement, tell the world in three sentences what you hope to accomplish -- and tell it soon, or you will lose your window.
The current Occupy movement reminds me of the Oscar Rogers (Kenan Thompson) character on SNL: "Identify the problem. Fix it! Repeat as necessary."
I have been reading your column for a few years now and never commented before. Just wanted to say I particularly enjoyed this one.
My biggest problem with the Occupy movement is that I don't understand what they want... and you said it very well. Great job.
Great column, Cory! I like the way you wove these two current events together. Regarding Netflix, the flameout is amazing. Getting an email from the CEO saying that Qwikster was dead and a mistake, but they're sticking to the price change/increase anyway was almost more perplexing than their first bumbled communications.
At an intellectual level, and as a professional communicator, I completely agree. Something in me sees the lack of a terse, coherent, punchy message as a failing. Extra credit if it rhymes.
But I suspect it's not a failing in this case, at least not at this stage, because the movement's current purpose isn't to sell an agenda, but to get people to identify with, and merge with its core emotion, which is outrage.
It seems to be doing that pretty well. You got the message, right? Things gotta change. System is broken to the extent that only the cleverest small mammals or the most amoral giant carnivores can thrive. The core agenda is also pretty obvious, and you probably get that too: get the money out of government, re-regulate large scale enterprises, vote everybody out who doesn't know how to dialogue and compromise and move forward with sane progressive agendas that rebuild the middle class and support the destitute.
If you say anything more than this, right now, I think the movement has a good chance of running afoul of the Red State/Blue State nonsense that's gridlocked the American public sphere for a generation, where middle-class people in New York tell middle-class people in Arizona that they can't own guns, and middle-class people in Arizona tell middle-class people in New York that their union contracts are unfair. Until all the middle class figures out which side of the barricades they need to be on to survive, I'm not sure more of that messaging and counter-messaging is productive.
Must close - have a march to get to.
Funny you should use this example. I started a comment on your previous post about the Occupy initiatives. My daughter is involved in Occupy Louisville. I talking to people down at the protest site, it became clear to me Occupy is hard to define, because it's different things to different people. But mostly it's about insensitivity, lack of compassion and lack of awareness of how important a strong middle class is to what defines this country.
It's about the outrage that I felt when a Netflix spokesperson dismissed customer's incense at the rate increase as, "It's only the same as a latte or two." For many of Netflix customers, the days of drinking lattes is a thing of the past, because the money spent on "a latte or two" can buy a lot of ramen noodles for dinner. Sure, they could drop the Netflix account and save the money. But for many, keeping it is the last vestige of being middle class, and is cheaper than renting videos.
Excellent post and excellently written. If you can't ask for something you want specifically, you are probably not going to get because not even your parents know what your various 2 year old garbling means. Organization with a clear message matters.