2013 winner: LOVEFiLM, New Brand/ highly commended E-commerce - case study

Accepting the challenge

At the end of 2011, Netflix announced they would be launching in the UK and the long-standing threat to LOVEFiLM’s business became a reality. Rather than lament it, LOVEFiLM welcomed it.

LOVEFiLM knew that the entrance of Netflix would shake up the market. But the brand didn’t want to rest on its laurels and hope for the best – Blockbuster’s mistake when under threat from LOVEFiLM years before. Instead, they decided to face the challenge of Netflix head on with a bold change of approach and an even bolder advertising campaign.

Welcoming change

There were two critical things that enabled LOVEFiLM to achieve success – a really smart, integrated marketing campaign; and the sheer audacity to switch the entire marketing spend to a new message – LOVEFiLM = watch movies online!

The level of change undertaken by the business over the last year is unprecedented. Success was made possible by the dedication to creating a single and compelling idea, which flowed through all parts of the business, across all agencies and over multiple media. The entire structure of the business has been changed for good and the step-change in customer growth and product engagement can only be described as transformational. The distinct change in business approach helped the brand’s marketing strategy to become far more effective whilst also reducing the annual cost of acquiring new members.

The success of LOVEFiLM’s campaign is a fantastic example of an existing brand combining big strategic thinking with powerful tactical executions in order to create a new service in order to drive the entire business forward.

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