Blinkbox to leverage Tesco parentage

It is hoped the increased marketing efforts will help highlight its points of difference against rivals such as LoveFilm, Netflix and Sky in the fiercely competitive online film streaming market.

Blinkbox will attempt to “own the entire film experience”, which includes food and drink accompaniments, the setting and the social aspect in which people watch movies.

Part of these efforts will include joint marketing campaigns with parent company Tesco, which bought an 80% share in the video on demand service in April last year.

The company has recently appointed former ITV publicist and current head of social media Ben Ayers, former digital account director at agency TMPMAGNET Dan Fellows and former Smartbox marketer Anne-Laure Kujawski to help lead the social element of the strategy.

Kate Simon, Blinkbox marketing director, says: “Social media is now essential to the movie watching experience; quantitative and qualitative research shows customers are very much dual screening and sharing their opinions.

“It’s important to develop our voice in a genuine way and not just push out about the brand – we have to have a two way dialogue to meet our objective of becoming the brand associated with the greatest movie experience.”

She adds that Blinkbox’s relationship with Tesco will help it differentiate itself from competitors and also offers deep customer insight, which can be used for more highly targeted marketing.

“Our parentage of Tesco enables the entire movie experience to be brought to life and will help customers navigate what can be quite a complicated category,” She says.

The two companies have already launched some joint marketing initiatives, including Tesco offering customers who buy physical DVDs and Blu-rays in store with online access to the same film via Blinkbox.