Want the Best Assignment Help in the UK? Look to Native Assignment Help for unparalleled expertise and support. Our dedicated team of professionals goes above and beyond to ensure you receive top-quality assignments that exceed your expectations.
Strategic brand management is comprised of recognising and formation of the brand positioning (Chernev, 2020). The brand positioning can only be effective if the company understand its brand well and know which segment will be best to position and reach customer or consumers. The market is the place where new, quirky and innovative products or services are launching daily and to keep up with the competition, strategic brand management plays a crucial role. Branding is one of the arts that requires precision, effort and practice to master and it is an uncertain process as there is no definite solution to any real-life branding problems. Strategic Brand Management is a process of designing and implementing the marketing actions, measurement of brand performance and the management of brand to generate maximum value.
Background Of Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is a video rental and media-streaming company which was founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in 1997. The corporate headquarters of the company is located in Los Gatos, California. In the year 1997, the company started a business model which involves an online-subscription service that allowed consumers all around the world to access the contents by paying a certain fee for the video subscription service. The consumers who are paying the subscription fees could choose the movie or any television show which they want to see from the website of Netflix and then after the selection process, the shows or movies were sent to the customer in the form of physical DVDs with the details regarding returning the DVDs. Many consumers use the service to keep the DVDs to themselves for many months by actively paying the online subscription fees. But this created some problems for the Netflix company as the number of DVDs they acquired was very limited as per the Netflix Subscription Plans. Netflix began to offer streaming options for consumers directly from the internet rather than using physical DVDs. For this Netflix also partnered with various technological products such as Video Game Console, Blu-ray Disc Players to reach more wide audience. From the year of 2013, Netflix started to put heavy emphasis on producing exclusive shows or movies on their platform to capture the attention of the audience.
ANALYSIS OF BRAND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF NETFLIX
The original and exclusive shows/movies are the key factors behind the success of the company. The shows such as “House of Cards", "Orange Is the New Black", “Black Mirror” are some of the old exclusive and original shows which were introduced by the company a long time ago and the consumers have enjoyed it and this played a big role in position the brand in the mind of the consumers all over the world (Stoll, 2021).
The new shows are also being produced in a very effective way and managing to win the hearts of the consumers, the new shows/movies such as “Squid Game”, “Red Notice”, “La Casa De Papel”, “Bridgerton” etc are some of the most profitable shows/movies. Netflix generated total revenue of around 7.7 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter of 2021 which is higher in comparison to the last fourth quarter of 2020 (Stoll, 2021). The annual revenue of Netflix is calculated which reveals around 30 billion US dollars, this signifies quality growth for the company.
However, Netflix is facing a decline in subscriber growth in this time of the pandemic. The growing competition in the market is creating difficulties for the company and the company added 36 million subscribers in 2020 seeing a decline in subscriber growth in 2021 (Flint and Chin, 2022). As per the latest company report, it can be recognised that Netflix only manage to capture 8.3 million subscribers in the last quarter of 2021.
Step 1: Identifying and Developing Brand Plans
Brand Equity is also known as the brand value a company gains by creating a successful brand (Keller and Brexendorf, 2019). The company can increase the brand value by introducing a product that is superior in quality, reliable and trusted by the consumers. For example, Apple was the most valuable brand with an approximated value of about 254.2 billion US dollars (Statista, 2021). Netflix was among the fastest-growing U.S. company between the years 2018 and 2019. Netflix was ranked 26th among the top 100 brands globally, the company has a brand value of $26.7 billion US dollars with a brand revenue of $20.2 billion US dollars in the industry of technology (Swant, 2020).
Currently, the Netflix tagline is “Only on Netflix” which means the company is putting heavy emphasis on producing innovative and powerful shows/movies to increase the brand value as well as to increase the wider audience through their online subscription via their website. The brand image will be equally affected by the company’s commitment to their tagline, more original and exclusive shows/movies is going to assist in capturing the attention of more consumers.
Netflix started as a DVD rental company and currently, it is one of the largest streaming services in the globe. Netflix is a perfect illustration of how experiments should take place to become successful (Pérez, 2020). The company is positioned as a subscription-based streaming service that can be accessed by the customer anywhere, anytime on devices such as Television, Gaming Consoles, Smart Phones etc. For a long time, the company has invested millions of financial resources in producing original and innovative movies/shows for consumers around the world. Netflix has been able to connect with people with unique and powerful stories and changed the way of storytelling (Vogels, 2019). It positioned itself by connecting with the consumers personally and meaningfully.
Step 2: Designing and Implementing Brand Marketing Programs
The components of the brand play a crucial role in the establishment of a proper brand. The components such as the name of the brand, short and simple URL of the website, Colour of the brand, taglines of the brand etc are among the factors that determine the well-being of any business around the world since these are some of the early steps that need to be undertaken. Netflix is a video-streaming service that puts heavy emphasis on these factors for their market operations or marketing activities.
Logo
Netflix has a very unique logo and the “N” from the whole Netflix term represents the company to its subscribers as well as the customers around the world.
Tagline
The tagline of Netflix keeps changing with time, it used to have “See What’s Next” where they promote their emerging new, innovative and original shows/movies on the platform. Currently as discussed above, “Only on Netflix” is the tagline of the business in which the business tries to represent their growing library of original and exclusive shows such as “Squid Game”, “Ozark”, “Stranger Things” etc.
Colour of the brand
The Netflix brand is represented by the colour Red and it is one of the best-designed logos in the technology industry. The red colour is the indicator of energy, power and passion and its colour has currently represented the brand and kept the brand apart from its competitors.
Netflix uses the advertisement in a very effective way such as using the Twitter polls options to interact with the audience, using a meme to promote new shows or movies (Arroyo-Almaraz and Díaz-Molina, 2021). In the year 2019, Netflix redecorate its animation which was 5-year-old. The name of the new animation of Netflix is named “Ident” in the designer lingo which blows the “N” of the Netflix logo into various vertical colourful lights that come close near the viewer screen. The explosion of “N” represents the various heart-warming stories, moments, emotions, fans from all over the world and the content creators are together to make the Netflix brand complete (Spangler, 2019).
Step 3: Measuring and Interpreting Brand Performance
In terms of new content including various shows, movies in the OTT (Over the Top) platforms. As in figure 7, the comparison between platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, NowTV and Disney+ in terms of the new contents which are being offered by the video streaming services. As of February 2021, Amazon Prime Video has more content in the United Kingdom in comparison to other major leading OTT platforms. The Amazon Prime Video is offering 20,000 including the Tv shows as well as the movies. The other platform like Netflix is offering a total of 6,024 shows as well as movies, furthermore, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix is offering the same number of TV shows which is around 2,000 in the cases of these two video streaming platforms (Stoll, 2021b). In the case of having a greater number of movies, it is clear that Amazon Prime Video is the clear winner in terms of providing a huge number of popular and quality movies, the platform has around 18,100 movies as compared to Netflix which is having 4,059 movies in the catalogue.
Netflix is a dominating force in the Video on Demand services not just in the UK but internationally. According to the data, Netflix managed to reach over 10 million subscribers in 2018 and even after having a huge library of movies and shows in Amazon Prime, the service only managed to reach close to 7.8 million subscribers (Stoll, 2021b).
This is the brand auditing that assists the company like Netflix to study and examining the current position of the brand in the market as well as the technology industry. The primary role of auditing or analysing or evaluating the brand is to get a basic idea about the current standings of the brand (Keller and Swaminathan, 2020).
Step 4: Growing and Sustaining Brand Equity
Ansoff Matrix of Netflix
Ansoff matrix is also known as the legendary tool for expansion in terms of product as well as market (Dawes, 2018). It is being used by the majority of the organization or company to assess and make effective strategies for growth and expansion. The matrix is comprised of 4 elements that are given below
Market Penetration
To expand and grow in the global market, there is a strong need for market penetration. The market penetration enables Netflix to distribute its online services to the customer and it also assists in generating profit margins which lead to higher income and higher brand share as well. The company can make a competitive strategy based on growth and expansion through penetrating the market. How well the customers identify as well as are aware of the company’s offerings.
Market Development
The market development strategy is the plan for the development of Netflix. This development involves introducing the online streaming service in the market and targeting them as per the criteria of the company. Netflix sells its original shows and other licensed shows or movies to the customer as well as the market (Afilipoaie, Iordache and Raats, 2021). This enables the company to recognise the development opportunities in various countries where the service is not yet available. The cost leadership strategy of Netflix can assist in charging a reasonable price for the services and can also help in making the streaming service more appealing.
Product Development
Product development is one of the growth strategies in which the products are more focused which means the company tries to develop new shows, movies for the streaming platform to promote more variety. This product development assists the company to build new content and selling the content to the audience or customers (Agnihotri, and Bhattacharya, 2021). The generic strategy of competitive advantage is being used by Netflix to produce more unique content for the consumers.
Diversification
Diversification means producing new products as well as services to the unknown territory of the market. The risks for diversifications are very high due to the high cost attached to it. Netflix implemented this diversification by launching new interactive video games on the platform, the company is entering the gaming market to stay ahead of its streaming service competitors (Singer and D’Angelo, 2020). The competition among the streaming services is going to be increased further in this time of technological advancements. Netflix can partner or enter into the cloud gaming space to provide gaming entertainment using the cloud service.
Recommendation and Conclusion
Visual content refers to the online content which is based on various photos, infographics, surveys, interactive tools, worksheets and presentations etc. This online content is a very useful tool for the company. Netflix uses the visual content in an effective way such as using faces as a cover thumbnail for shows or movies, being able to produce high-quality content are very hard therefore, Netflix uses visual content to boost the engagement of consumers.
Netflix considers the information such as which colour will appeal to the audience more, are consumers are attracted towards specific cover art etc. Netflix always focuses on producing original and exclusive shows and movies on the platform, this becomes a huge advantage because the competitors also have to produce unique content or original shows to stay relevant in the market otherwise the company is bound to fail (Rodrigues, 2021). The original shows such as Umbrella Academy, The Witcher, Squid Game etc, these original shows are boosting the number of subscribers and generating more profits
Overall, brand management strategies are the most important factors to be taken care of to become successful in the business environment. In the spectrum of marketing, businesses need to make changes to stay relevant in the business. Netflix is keeping up with the trend and mass advertising its new content and also effectively making use of visual content.
References
Chernev, A., 2020. Strategic brand management. cerebellum press.
Flint, J. and Chin, K., 2022. Netflix Shares Sink as Company Sees Subscriber Growth Slowing. Wall Street Journal. [online] 21 Jan. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflix-is-expected-to-log-smaller-profit-as-it-spends-more-on-content-11642687202 [Accessed 26 Jan. 2022].
, 2019. Most valuable car brands worldwide by brand value 2019 | Statista. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/267830/brand values- of-the-top-10-most-valuable-car-brands/ [Accessed 7 Jan. 2022].
Pérez, E.P., 2020, May. NEXT EPISODE, NEXT MARKET: SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING FOR SVOD: THE CASE OF NETFLIX. In GLOBAL (Vol. 4, p. 8).
Vogels, R., 2019. Netflix Has Changed Storytelling. What Brands Can Learn From It. [online] Forbes. Available at:
[Accessed 26 Jan. 2022].
Arroyo-Almaraz, I. and Díaz-Molina, R., 2021. The meme phenomenon in the creative strategy of Netflix Spain on Twitter. ICONO 14, Revista de comunicación y tecnologías emergentes, 19(2), pp.312-337.
Spangler, T., 2019. Netflix Debuts New Logo Animation for Originals, With an Exploding Rainbow of Colors. [online] Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/netflix-new-logo-animation-exploding-colors-1203125961/ [Accessed 26 Jan. 2022].
Stoll, J., 2021b. Number of titles on SVOD platforms UK 2020. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107383/netflix-amazon-prime-now-tv-disney-number-of-titles-uk/ [Accessed 26 Jan. 2022].
Keller, K.L. and Swaminathan, V., 2020. Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity. Harlow: Pearson.
Dawes, J., 2018. The Ansoff matrix: A legendary tool, but with two logical problems. But with Two Logical Problems (February 27, 2018).
Afilipoaie, A., Iordache, C. and Raats, T., 2021. The ‘Netflix Original’and what it means for the production of European television content. Critical Studies in Television, 16(3), pp.304-325.
Agnihotri, A. and Bhattacharya, S., 2021. Netflix: The Firing Machine?. SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals.
Singer, D. and D’Angelo, E., 2020. The Netflix of gaming? Why subscription video-game services face an uphill battle. Last accessed December, 5.
Rodrigues, A.I.V., 2021. Equity research| Netflix Inc.(Nflx)-Netflix´ s gambit of original content(Doctoral dissertation).
