What “Bird Box” Can Teach You About Branding for Your Business
Updated: Jan 23, 2019
7 Tips To Build A Profitable Brand From Netflix‘s Hit Movie “Bird Box”
I recently watched Netflix‘s recent success with the movie ”Bird Box.” A month later I am still seeing posts about the movie and it made me analyze how Netflix and Sandra Bullock partnered to leverage each other’s brands for financial success.
The analysis resulted in seven tips for cashing in on new marketing channels and strategies to build your brand and sell more products.
Lift the blindfold, if you dare, and follow along.
You know a #movie or #art is powerful if a month later you are still asking, “But what was it?”
What if it were your company’s #brand that #people were still thinking about a day, a week or month later? How do you connect and engage with your audience like #Birdbox successfully captured an audience that become its social advocates?
Netflix said 45 million subscriber accounts worldwide watched the Sandra Bullock thriller “Bird Box”, a novel by Josh Malerman, during its first seven days on the service, the biggest first-week success of any movie made for the company’s nearly 12-year-old streaming service.
Data
Netflix shared it’s important to know the data to help decide what programs will attract subscribers.
The movie industry and streaming services use all kinds of data to track and measure data related to their brand, products, traction and sales.
Why aren‘t you doing the same in your business and for your brand?
Find data tracking systems to capture, mine, report and analyze your business’ data and use it to help you make better decisions related to your brand.
Decision
Decide what space you want to be in and intentionally be in it.
″Bird Box” is the latest example of the company’s, Netflix, resolve to become a bigger player in movies.
Source Michael Liedtke of AP News 1/2/201
Content
Produce good stuff. This part is simple. Create and deliver a great product that is unique, rare and with a twist that gives your customers something to talk about.
If you don’t know how or aren’t sure don’t release it. Retain the experts you need to help ensure your product or service has discovered an untapped demand and design something to fill the gap.
Bird Box intelligently incorporated interesting and diverse characters, sound writing, believable props but yet still left it’s audience disturbed and strangely satisfied. We are still a month later asking, “But what was it that was making the people do it and why?”
Brilliant! Ding can‘t you hear the little bell ringing?
Strategy
For the most part, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is known for its wide selection of streaming TV series -- from licensed content to its own Netflix Originals. But the company has been making a big push into self-produced feature-length films recently. This strategy is getting put to the test more than ever as the company rolls out more feature films. Source Daniel Sparks The Motley Fool 12/31/2018
Think beyond the “the box” by aligning your product or service placement to enhance viewership, awareness, awards and access. If they can’t find your product in new and innovative channels, or your suppliers and distributors are not celebrated or involved you might as well cover the windows, put the blindfold on, stumble your way thru familiar territory and hope for the best.
Celebrity
Surprise them with personal engagement. Sandra Bullock took a gamble and leveraged her Hollywood star power to transition from the big screen to stream.
Let‘s admit it. When you first saw Sandra Bullock was appearing in a Netflix movie you thought “Wow, poor Sandra she’s looking for work or needed a gig.” But, after the success of the movie where some say the performance numbers where equivalent to a movie making $400 million at the box-office. You then realize Netflix needed her not the other way around.
So it makes you wonder, do you know your audience, does your audience know you and will they follow you wherever you go and most important question to ask is - will they buy?
Thinking back to when you first heard about the movie, probably from a Facebook post, once you saw Sandra Bullock was starring in the obscure movie you wondered what could the movie be about and would she deliver?
As an owner of a small business trying to compete in the big wide world, you don’t have to be an international celebrity to sell your products or service. You just need to be the hero who survives the rapids to save your current and new customers. They need to know you.
Timing
According to sources, in the streaming world the first-week audience means nearly one-third of Netflix’s 137 million subscribers watched the movie from Dec. 21 through Dec. 27 — a holiday-season stretch when many people aren’t working and have more free time.
That gave people time to access the content.
Releasing the product at the right time can make a world of difference to a new launch. It puts eyeballs front and center to see your brand, receive it, analyze it, use it and then talk about it with their friends. One good post on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter could send your brand into orbit or could send you into hiding if your aren’t ready to “look.”
Invest
Use your retained earnings to reinvest in your brand, borrow to invest in the calculated content and strategy, use experts to help you find your space and channels, use the data you have collected to know what to expect and let the audience do the advocating for you. The thing about the digital age is once the buzz starts it’s hard to kill it. #dontbeabuzzkill
#branding #marketing #content #relate #birdbox #netflix #sandrabullock #facebook #twitter #instagram
Official Trailer