Dumb moments in marketing – Nashville Blockbuster franchisee: The Blockbuster franchisee in Nashville (31 locations) has just created a new Netflix subscriber, me. They are one of the fine print exceptions to the “only at participating locations” disclaimer on the “no more late fees” Blockbuster advertising campaign. Perhaps, it’s the irony of the national advertising campaign so compellingly explaining how outraged customers are at late fees and how grateful customers are that Blockbuster is changing its model, that makes the local franchisee’s decision so absurd. One rexblog reader has already e-mailed me suggesting a boycott. I’m game.
I’m sure I’ll be doing a follow-up post on this when the franchisee issues a statement saying something like, “Did we say we weren’t doing that ‘no more late fees’ thing?” Sure, we’re doing it. What do you think we are? Stupid? Or, more likely, “Our customers have told us they want the new policy and we’ve agreed with our customers, blah, blah.”
Nashvillians, arise!
Update: Quote from Tennessean article:
The ”no late fee” policy applies at Blockbuster’s more than 4,500 company-owned stores nationwide and at about half of its 1,100 franchised locations, stores operated by local merchants. But Nashville’s 31 area stores are owned by a franchisee that has opted to continue charging late fees, a move that’s allowed under franchising deals with Blockbuster…”We are very aware and sorry that the national advertisement is causing some confusion among customers,” said Tom Barzizza, vice president of marketing for Southern Stores, a Memphis-based holding company that owns all of Blockbuster’s Nashville outlets and about 60 others in the Southeast.
