Adaptation or Extinction – The Price of doing Business in an Increasing Connected World
May 16, 2007 | Comments (2) | Filed under: Online Business
One thing that has been weighing on my mind a lot lately is the idea that so many successful businesses seem to be simply rolling up and dying against the constant move toward a fully connected business world. Every day you hear stories of company A losing money and company B losing even more, but you look at their individual situations and it’s hard not to immediately criticize their efforts. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but in this day and age, not embracing the Internet can literally be the kiss of death for even the biggest of chains.
A perfect example of this is the movie industry. Every move they make seems to dig a deeper and deeper hole and ultimately works to isolate themselves from technology rather than embrace it. Take for example the MPAA’s recent lobbying to force users to obtain authorization for their home theatre systems. This move shows such a disrespect and disregard for everyday consumers, it is amazing to me that it even makes it past the idea stage.
I used to work part-time as a movie reviewer a few years back, but since I stopped, I really haven’t looked back. I’m basically just a really big film fan. When a new movie comes out, I’m one of those people who are there on opening weekend religiously. I see most movies in the theatre, and probably attend more than 50 films a year at my favorite theatre in Toronto, Canada. At current ticket prices, that means in theatre attendance alone, I probably spend more than $500 a year on tickets. So you can easily say that I am a big supporter of the film industry.
Lately though, I have been finding the theatre going experience to be almost not worth the ticket price. I love the big screen, I love the big sound, but the movie industry and the theatre chains are basically squeezing every ounce of life out of the entire experience. Rather than roll with the evolving industry and grow to accommodate it, they take offensive stances that only serve to alienate customers. I think I can safely say that we’re watching the theatre experience die right before our very eyes, and there is no much we can do to save it. The entire industry refuses to adapt and evolve with technology and mark my words, that fact will lead to their eventual downfall. 
Let me explain what I mean with an example of a recent film I attended. Last Saturday (May 7, 2007), a friend of mine and I really wanted to see the movie 28 Weeks Later. I was a big fan of the original, and I had high expectations for the sequel. Expecting a huge crowd, we decided to buy our tickets online a few hours before the film started. The ticket buying experience was rather painless, except for the fact that the online buying system looks and operates like it was designed in the early 90′s (when I know for a fact it is < 1 year old). For me I was able to navigate my way through 3 registrations and 5 menus, but you take someone less technical like my parents, and you might as well write them off entirely as possible online customers.
We print our our tickets and then head out to the theatre about an hour before it was scheduled to start. My theatre of choice is one of the hundreds owned and operated by the biggest theatre chain in Canada, Cineplex Entertainment. It’s a huge multiplex with 16 screens and 4 theatres that seat well over 500 viewers. For a big movie like Spider-Man 3, it’s not unusual to see a few thousand people in the building attending films.
Saturday was no exception. Spidey’s still pulling strong numbers and 28 Weeks was picking up the overflow. When we arrive, there is a huge lineup of more than 100 people waiting to get into our theatre. Were they waiting for theatre cleanup? Nope. Were they waiting for friends or family to show up? Negative. They were all waiting because security has recently decided to start frisking and searching all jackets and bags for digital cameras before entering the theatre. This measure is in direct response to the recent huge exaggeration by the MPAA that labeled Canada (a country with less population total than the state of California) as being responsible for over 70% of pirated films. It’s also in response to the US’s suddenly aggressive attempts to force copyright laws down Canadian throats. The facts behind their claims are very flimsy to say the least but this hasn’t stopped Canada’s largest chain from this proverbial “shit in the pants” response.
Now, I’m all for ensuring films aren’t pirated, but prior to these latest “findings” by the MPAA, we were already subjected to multiple ushers patrolling theatres every 10 minutes during films and a total bombardment of anti-piracy messages before every showing. The fact that these already invasive steps have now been increased to include mandatory bag searches and frisking of film goers is just too much to handle, even for an avid film fan. I can’t imagine what affect it has on the people who already only attend a few times a year. Siding with outlandish claims and refusing to stand up for your customers and your own anti-piracy efforts is a sure fire way to make yourself extinct.
Furthermore, add to that the fact that several major publishers such as Warner Brothers and Fox have announced upcoming measures including no Canadian Pre-Screenings and delayed release dates, and you pretty much have the perfect recipe to never visit a theatre again.
Anyway, we survive the frisking and make it inside the theatre, and now the place is so full, that there are barely any seats to be had. We were 40 minutes early for the film but having taken over 20 minutes just to get inside, we are now faced with the choice of sitting in the front row.
The fact that simple user experience changes that should have been made 20 years ago do not yet exist, such as assigned seating in large chain multiplexes, absolutely blows my mind. I recently attended several films in Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England and at each chain you could hand pick your seat at ticket purchase time and know exactly where you were going to sit.
I’m not stupid, and I know exactly why it doesn’t exist here and in the US and that’s because if they did have assigned seating, people might show up with only minutes to spare before a film started. If they do that, then they would completely miss out on the battery of advertising thrown at you prior to every film. By making you basically “fight” for good seating, they guarantee your experience as a consumer is horrible but ensure they rake in the advertising revenue.
Think about it, assigned seating would alleviate all kinds of problems. You wouldn’t have to worry about showing up an hour early for blockbuster films. You wouldn’t have to deal with the amazingly annoying string of people who constantly ask you if the seats beside your are available. You just show up when you want to, and go right to your seat. It couldn’t be any easier. Alas, deciding not to improve the user experience for YEARS is what is going to make people decide to stay home instead.
Look at it from an online online business perspective. The current theatre and film experience is basically like having a website that you haven’t improved on in over 20 years. Not only that, but when you go to the site, you’re hammered with more advertising than content and when you do see content, you aren’t always guaranteed to see if from the best angle. While you’re visiting the site, your hard drive is constantly searched for pirated data, even if you haven’t pirated anything in your life. I guarantee for every single one of us, if we made that site we would crash and burn.
You ABSOLUTELY need to adapt to the changing environment of the world if you want to survive, but big industry just doesn’t get it. With every week that passes, the film industry gets more and more paranoid and refuses to embrace technology, and they only hurt themselves. The same can be said for thousands of the “old guard” industries and one by one they drop or simply become a very weak shadow of their former selves. The world is no longer a place where customers have to simply take what you give them and not complain. With DVD releases only months after theatrical releases, we now have options and as a result, many filmgoers are choosing to stay home. You can only keep going so long and sacrifice the customer experience so much before you lose them forever. I’m as big a movie goer as anyone, and these attacks on my privacy and treating all customers like thieves is enough to make me want to stop going for good.
It makes me very sad to think that one day my own kids may never get to see films on the big screen like I did. You can’t fight the future though, and refusing to adapt is the quickest way to becoming extinct and to be honest, with they way things are right now, becoming extinct would be the best thing for them. :_(
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2 people have left comments
I completely AGREE! When I was in asia, they had assigned seatings so you just had to show up and knew where you were going to sit. i never thought about having us go early to fight for seats would be mainly to bombard us with advertisements.
Yeah, it really drives me crazy. They are deteriorating the movie going experience so much and then they are surprised when every year is the new lowest year in attendance. Hopefully the industry wakes up and makes some changes before it’s too late…