Netflix vs Stan - Part 1/3

Netflix vs Stan - Part 1/3

Today we look at the Streaming Video on demand service, or SVOD, as popular media abbreviates it, within the Australian market.

The SVOD market is due to be one of the most disruptive shifts in media consumption within 2015. It has been described by the Sydney Morning herald as “…the demise of free-to-air television but a catastrophe for pay television operator Foxtel.” [1]The significance of Netflix on this sector is undoubtedly present, however where did Netflix come from, and more importantly for our blog, how has advertising assisted in it’s success?

Source: http://www.cordcuttersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/netflix-logo.png

Netflix is the US SVOD giant that has been slowly expanding its reach to all corners of the world. It was founded 18 years ago in 1997 (when DVDs were still a thing) and was a blockbuster-like service where you paid a monthly fee, Netflix would post dvds to you which you would then return via the post. Pretty cool right?

With the rise of the internet, Netflix began uploading the catalog of DVDs to an online distribution –like a youtube for DVD’s – this included movies, tv series, documentaries – If you were interested in it, Netflix had some video content for you.

An advert from Netflix after their digital catalog came to fruition

In 2013, Netflix has close to 30 million subscribers in America. Globally,  they had over 31 million. As you can imagine, there was a massive opportunity for Netflix to enter other markets internationally and advertising realised the potential for Netflix to succeed in other markets.

Within Australia, Stan was standing in Netflix’s way...

Source: https://bandt-au.s3.amazonaws.com/information/uploads/2014/11/stan.png?544097

Stan is the home grown SVOD service between Fairfax media and Nine network. It entered the market on the reputation of Australian comedian and actress, Rebel Wilson, with a budget that can be deemed as excessive. It did this one month before Netflix entered the market, giving them the first mover advantage….

Rebel Wilson features in Stan's opening advert

Thats the end of part 1! Part two of this Netflix vs Stan series examines at how the two companies have battled it out through media and advertising and how their efforts have affected consumer perceptions surrounding SVOD services.

- By Jacob 

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[1] http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/arrival-of-netflix-and-svod-set-to-change-australian-tv-20150327-1m8zlo.html

Dealing With Negative Brand Image

It is very safe to say that the banking industry is one of the least favored in modern times, which makes the task for marketers to positively portray these companies all the more difficult. This discussion aims to target the challenge of changing brand reputation and negative associations with their products, as well as analyse the similarities between two of the big 4 banks in Australia, being Commonwealth & NAB.

There are clear similarities which both companies have in common in each advertisement, there is a clear aim underlying in an effort to utilise the repetition of common company motto's frequently used by both companies in the past, in an effort to communicate a sense of positivity and personability behind each of their brands. However there are some differences in how they framed these recurrent sayings, the ANZ advertisement uses actor Simon Baker who is a frequent spokesperson for their company to encapsulate some of his credibility for their company, notice that they have refrained from showing the ANZ logo in this advertisement which can arguably be linked back to negative consumer perception. However commonwealth has capitalised on using their brand image to noticeably frame the saying “Can” which is their Campaign slogan from “Can’t”. In this pair of advertisements both companies have aimed to improved their brand reputation but with two contrasting themes, where one capitalises on Logo distinguishability and the other abstains from using it.

Tourism

Hi all!

Today’s post will be looking at two different tourism advertisements, one for New Zealand and the other for California. Both these ads have been shown many times on Australian television.

100% Pure New Zealand

This ad opens with beautiful views of lush mountains, clear skies and pristine waterfalls. This ad constantly shows people taking part in various adventurous activities like swimming with dolphins, mountain hiking, surfing, kayaking, paragliding and skiing, Everyone shown in this ad looks like they are having the time of their lives. The ads open with the statement “welcome to the youngest Country on Earth”, with the song ‘forever young’ playing in the background. I think this ad is very well done; it definitely makes me want to take a break from Sydney and travel to New Zealand. I think the ad is supposed to appeal to young people and those with a carefree spirit.

 California: Find yourself here

This ad uses an array of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, The Jonas Brothers, Jason Mraz and Betty White. This ad uses irony and stereotypes to capture their audience. Kim Kardashian opens with the line “ people have a lot of misconceptions about California, but none of them are true”. After this another person will say, “people think we’re all celebrities”, then it will cut to show the Jonas Brothers, a popular American pop rock group. I think the ads use of celebrities is a great way to capture the audience’s attention. 

“We make low prices irresistible” or “Live Big for Less”

Hello everyone!

For today’s post I thought I would step away from the fast food industry and focus on 2 major discount stores in Australia, Kmart and Big W. Kmart and Big W are almost identical when it comes to what they sell and their purpose. They sell everything from pet toys and electronics to furniture and clothing at supposedly low prices.

Kmart and Big W are in constant competition with one another. Throughout the years each store has gone through major developments and implemented new advertising techniques in order to outdo each other.

Over the years Kmart has worked on looking less like a ‘discount store’ and more like a ‘department store’. Kmart have changed their image to appear more ‘high-end’ whilst still maintaining their low prices. Lately Kmart have tried to appeal to a younger audience with their use of upbeat music and young actors in recent commercials.

More recently Big W has implemented some major developments in order to try and outdo their competitors these include:

• In 2007 a Big W underwent a $1 billion makeover, transforming the format of the store, slogan and logo. 
  

                              Old Logo (logos.wikia.com)  

• The July ‘Giant toy spectacular’. During this time some stores are open until midnight.

• In 2014 Big W introduced their every own party store.

• In 2013 Big W recruited Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet to star in various commercials, including one for the “Giant toy spectacular’. 

                                      (m2.facebook.com)

• In order to compete with Kmart’s ‘high-end’ look Big W teamed up with designer Peter Morrissey to create apparel lines exclusive to Big W.

Overall, Big W has definitely stepped up its game when it comes to advertising from spending billions of dollars to recruiting celebrities. It will be interesting to see what other developments are in store for Kmart and Big W in the future. 

By: Carla