Why does our client need to advertise?

A success in the 1990s, Blockbuster Video has been losing business to competitors such as Netflix and Redbox in recent years. They are now facing bankruptcy and need to reposition themselves to consumers.

Advertising Design class works in the following way. Person A draws a existing company name out of a hat, researches them to determine what isn’t working, and writes a creative brief  outlining the direction the new campaign should take and why. Person A then designs 3 pieces of this campaign, presents, and receives a grade.

In Phase 2, A’s company is passed to Person B. Person B conducts her own research, rewrites the creative brief if necessary, refines A’s 3 pieces and designs 3 more for a total of six.

The assignments snowball in this way, until people are presenting 10-12 pieces of work. It’s a cool way to structure the class, reminiscent of real-world dynamics.

I had the responsibility of inaugurating the Blockbuster campaign. What you read in italics is my creative brief for the campaign.

What is the advertising going to accomplish?

It will lessen the negative image of Blockbuster as an outdated, high-priced store with poor service. It will project Blockbuster as a physical/virtual one-stop shop for all video consumption, and play up its privileged connection with film studios.

The first piece you see above is the front of a direct mail piece. The address, etc. is on the back. The piece is folded in such a way that the doors open to reveal this:

Information about the updated services and a removable coupon.

Who are we going to connect with?

Men and women ages 18-35 who seek flexibility with their video watching options.

What are the most insightful things we know about them?

They seek and value experience, but with their fast-paced lives, they want to get bite-sized experiences (movies) in the most convenient way possible. The options are ever expanding, and it usually takes time to investigate and provide a working context for each one. What they need is a simple system to access any movie delivered in any format, giving them maximum flexibility.

Magazine ad

What is the single, most effective message?

Choose your destination, choose how you’ll get there. One movie rental purchase at Blockbuster can translate into theater tickets, store/kiosk/mail DVD rental, download with expiration, or streaming video.

What else do we need to know that supports this idea?

The name Blockbuster currently conjures up images of driving to a store to rent a VHS / DVD. Various competing services offer different mediums of video consumption, and Blockbuster has desperately tried to play catchup, initiating a kiosk network and DVD by mail program. It could continue building those services at a equal rate, while simultaneously closing stores, since those may no longer be necessary.

(end of quarter addendum)

The next people that had Blockbuster made significant changes, which were justifiable. The main issue with my three pieces is that they were not all unified in the message or “feel.” By the time someone presented 10 pieces, the only element of mine that remained was the  thick to thin line that you see on this billboard. The funny thing is, it was the least thought-out and most random of my design decisions. You never know what someone will latch on to!