Brand Audit Client (Netflix)
Introduction
Netflix came into being in 1997 when founder Reed Hastings found himself dealing with the hassle of having to pay a late fee on a VHS he had rented. His solution to the problem was to offer an online movie rental service that, for a monthly fee, allowed subscribers to rent movies without the fear of late fees and to return them simply by mailing them back, which then allowed them to pick and rent another movie. As the Internet grew and presented the ability for television and movies to be streamed online, Netflix focused more of its efforts on providing its subscribers with access to a wide myriad of television and movies that they could stream instantly through their Netflix account. Recently, they have even dipped into the realm of shooting their own Netflix original TV shows, by both creating new shows and by picking up television programming that had been previously cancelled on a linear television station.
Company Analysis Netflix prides itself on being able to present consumers with a straightforward, easy-to-use entertainment streaming platform (“Long Term View,” 2015). They strive to present their subscribers with not necessarily the most movie and television options, but instead the very best of each genre. Those concepts of simplicity, straightforwardness, and preferring quality over quantity transfer to the company’s culture. When it comes to hiring, Netflix focuses on bringing in only the best, mature adults who they then trust to handle themselves correctly without any sort of policy guiding what exactly they should and should not do (McCord, 2014). Instead they are trusted to do what is in Netflix’s best interest, a concept that seems incredibly strange and risky to other companies trying to peer in. Risk is not something that Netflix shies away from, and that has been shown from the very moment