Qwikster, New Coke and Big Fat Marketing Egos

Netflix‘s Reed Hastings has fallen on his knees again, begging for forgiveness. No need to rehash this news from yesterday’s Netflix blog. This might be a good time to put the cement overshoes on his marketing consigliere, though. Someone’s corporate ego is in the way big time.

I hear from NPR that the finance side might have been a big reason for these twin black eyes for Netflix. On the one hand, raising prices is bad enough. But not understanding the needs of your consumer and how they interface with your revenues is deadly. Here’s a cycle not to repeat: double your price, say I’m sorry and we’re going to make you do twice as much work to consume our service and then mea culpa, we didn’t understand you used our service to simplify your life and entertainment choices.

I’m old enough to remember “New Coke” and it’s a case study in wrongly-done marketing in courses and graduate schools around the country. It seems like such common sense now, but back in the day this was big fat marketing egos gone wild. Despite the Coca-Cola Company’s spin (read this!), “New Coke” was a try that failed in the most public way. It cost a bunch of money and generated much negative press and consumer confusion. Even today, it is shorthand in the marketing profession for a really bad marketing decision.

OK, nobody’s perfect. But we all can use a little humility. What are you doing to make sure big, fat marketing egos don’t get in the way of your integrated marketing communications programs with ill-conceived strategems like market share warfare and illogical service spin-offs?

More reading:

Qwikster – Biggest Marketing Blunder since New Coke