Mashable ran a story today highlighting a Netflix agreement with Warner Brothers for new release movies.  Seems, Warner Bros thinks that if they make people wait 28 days to see a new release DVD they’ll be more likely to buy the DVD.  And Netflix?  Who knows what they’re thinking?

This is not a business strategy it’s arrogance. Not releasing content in hopes you’ll shell out $30+ to purchase a DVD is the ultimate attempt at customer coercion and will fail. And what’s in it for Netflix?  Pissed-off customers?

DVD sales have been in the toilet for years so it’s really just one more nail in that coffin but trying to force customers to do anything they don’t want to do is a losing battle.  Hello!?  Warner Bros, haven’t you learned anything in the last few years?  Seems the only strategy is to get out of the DVD business and make it someone else’s fault.

This announcement will be a boon to Warner Bros and Netflix competitors and opens up an opportunity for Blockbuster, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube and others. Holding content in hopes we’ll purchase isn’t going to drive sales and they know it, so in the next breath, both companies say they’ll be adding more instant streaming to Netflix, like we couldn’t see that coming.  It seems likely that the next step is “premium” content from Netflix.  Want this new release?  $9.99 and you can stream it.

These customers may likely go elsewhere, at least initially–RedBox is certainly hoping they will.  Most folks want to stream movies, so what’s next is more exciting than what’s now.  So for now, I’ll hold me breath to see how this pans out.  And, Warner Bros, I’ll wait 28 days to see your new releases.

Also titled: How not to develop Evangelists for your company: Chastise them for spreading the word!

A recent company that I had been blogging, twittering, and spreading the word about in various social media circles recently sent me what I referred to as a slap wrapped in a hug. I was rather stunned to see this in my inbox> the names have been removed to protect the innocent! And this has been abridged. I should add, you get perks for referrals…so this story makes sense.

I wanted to introduce myself to you, I am the Community Manager here at company x. I would like to welcome you! I hope that your experience thus far has been positive and useful.

I noticed you have referred many of your colleagues. This is great and we thank you for recommending our site to them. I wanted to let you know we monitor referrals very closely due to the fact that some do abuse this process. Please be sure that those you referred are your friends or colleagues in your network and are legit contacts, not from a mass email campaign. Thank you for your cooperation….blah blah blah more pleasantries.

Now, I understand brand control. I respect what they are trying to do–but if you give something away expecting people to spread the word, you can’t slap the on the wrist when they do!

Sidenote: My evangelism was entirely on the level and I was not out to game their system… I just had to scratch my head and laugh! It made for good conversation as my wife and I walked the dog around the park this evening.

At the end of the day we all kissed and made up and they’ve even sending me a tchotchky.