Cleverest DVD marketing scheme *ever* - clarkjohnsen

Films/DVD Asylum

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Cleverest DVD marketing scheme ever

Like Coke machine for DVDs
McDonald's start-up Redbox tests video vending equipment
By Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe Staff | August 2, 2005
GLASTONBURY, Conn. -- Candy, soda, cigarettes. Now DVDs.
At a Stop & Shop supermarket here, one of 550 test sites around the country, customers can get DVDs of the most popular movies -- from Clint Eastwood's hit ''Million Dollar Baby" to ''National Treasure" with Nicolas Cage -- from a pair of cylinder-shaped vending machines at the front of the store.
The machines belong to Redbox, a company launched by McDonald's Corp. that executives hope could change the video rental industry almost as much as the Golden Arches changed Americans' eating habits.
For storefront video rental companies like giant Blockbuster Inc., Redbox is the latest competitive headache spawned by the decline of bulky videotape cassettes and the rise of lightweight DVDs. The success of the unheralded start-up Netflix Inc. showed that consumers would rent movies on the Internet and have them delivered by mail. Now Redbox, based in Oak Brook, Ill., will challenge video rental stores by making the process as simple and as cheap as using a Coke machine.
''It's really being seen as another way to make McDonald's convenient and relevant to customers," said Greg Waring, Redbox senior director of marketing.
Redbox charges a dollar a day, plus local sales tax. In Connecticut, it comes to $1.06. There's no need to fill out a registration form before renting. All the user needs is a valid credit card. A renter swipes the card and picks the movie using a touch-screen video monitor. The DVD emerges from a slot, packed in a plastic case.
''We love it," said Rachel Zarrilli, 36, who shops with two young children in tow at the Glastonbury Stop & Shop. Zarrilli dreads visiting the local video rental store with her children. ''They run around, they go crazy," she said. ''And it's $5 to rent a movie."
Redbox charges no late fees. Instead, the customer is charged another dollar every day the movie is out. After 25 days and $25, the renter can keep the disk. To return the movie, people needn't go back to the original location. Redbox disks can be returned at any Redbox in the United States. All of the machines are connected to Redbox headquarters through a broadband digital network, so the company always knows which movies are most popular and which machines need servicing.
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http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/08/02/like_coke_machine_for_dvds/ (Open in New Window)

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Topic - Cleverest DVD marketing scheme *ever* - clarkjohnsen 09:10:42 08/03/05 (3)

FWIW, the "clever" part consists in the sell-through. nt - clarkjohnsen 13:01:06 08/03/05 (0)

I see an inherent flaw in the scheme: - Audiophilander 11:43:32 08/03/05 (0)

My Safeway has... - mkuller 10:35:30 08/03/05 (0)

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