{"id":156,"date":"2006-06-25T05:09:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-25T12:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulgillin.com\/2006\/06\/blockbuster-cluelessness.html"},"modified":"2006-06-25T05:09:00","modified_gmt":"2006-06-25T12:09:00","slug":"blockbuster-cluelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/2006\/06\/blockbuster-cluelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Blockbuster cluelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christina Kerley has an interview with Mike Kaltschnee<\/a>, the blogger who writes HackingNetflix <\/a>that’s well worth reading if you’re a marketer. It will give you some great insight into how clueless some marketers can be and I am referring to the marketers at Blockbuster<\/a>.

<\/span><\/span><\/span>HackingNetflix is a great example of an enthusiast site. Kaltschnee started it because he’s a movie buff and he was really excited by the DVD-by-mail business and Netflix<\/a>‘s in particular. In the process of writing about his passion, he’s become one of the leading influencers in that market. He now writes about all the DVD-by-mail firms, not just Netflix. And he’s got 3,000 – 7,000 readers a day.<\/p>\n

HackingNetflix covers everything from bugs on the Netflix site to rumors about competitors and new products to new promotional materials to information about Netflix’ stock price. He told Kerley that that about half the stories he posts come from readers and comments.<\/p>\n

So here’s what floored me about the interview. Mike Kaltschnee has probably got his ear closer to the ground than anyone in the planet on the DVD-by-mail industry. And Blockbuster won’t work with him!<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you believe that? Here’s Blockbuster, whose stock is trading at an all-time low and who has filed antitrust claims against Netflix<\/a>, refusing to interact with an independent source who can most help them understand their biggest competitor, not to mention the rest of the market. And they won’t even acknowledge his existence.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to chalk this up to arrogance on Blockbuster’s part because the company doesn’t have much be arrogant about. It has to be cluelessness. Someone in Blockbuster’s PR organization needs a dope slap. Or a pink slip.<\/p>\n

Netflix, by the way, loves the site and has been all over it, Kaltschnee said.<\/p>\n

Blockbuster is missing a huge opportunity by not working with HackingNetflix. If you’re a marketer, there’s probably a Mike Kaltschnee in your market. That person is a resource to you, not an annoyance or an eneny.<\/p>\n

———————————————-
Update 6\/26\/06<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s an update to this commentary.<\/p>\n

I e-mailed Blockbuster’s PR department about Mike Kaltschnee’s comments and received a prompt reply. Blockbuster’s responses are in bold. Specific addresses have been changed for confidentiality purposes.<\/p>\n

1. Is Blockbuster media relations aware of the site HackingNetflix? Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Are you planning to engage with the author of this site or are youchoosing not to pay attention to it for now? To our knowledge, we have never been contacted by this site. We respond to reporters on a regular basis and are available 24\/7 at 21X-85X-X190, or online at xxxx@blockbuster.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Does Blockbuster’s media relations have a policy on communicating withbloggers as part of your media plan? If so, may I know what the policy is,please? We are communicating to the media on a regular basis. There is no policy one way or the other re: bloggers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Do you have any comment on Mr. Kaltshnee’s statement that “I triedseveral times to reach Blockbuster, and finally had one exchange with the PRpeople, but subsequent e-mails went unanswered.” We encourage Mr.Kaltshnee to contact us at 21X-85X-X190 or at xxxx@blockbuster.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christina Kerley has an interview with Mike Kaltschnee, the blogger who writes HackingNetflix that’s well worth reading if you’re a marketer. It will give you some great insight into how clueless some marketers can be and I am referring to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pTy95-2w","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}