Marketing Blog

The Day the Internet Went Dark: Why the AWS Outage is a Marketing Crisis Source On October 20th, 2025, disaster struck. Hundreds of apps and websites were knocked offline for over 12+ hours. Notable apps/websites include but are not limited to Canvas, GrubHub, Venmo, Spotify, and Amazon. The reason for this outage was due to Amazon Web Services (AWS), specifically an internal system failure in its "us-east-1" data center in Northern Virginia. While engineers worked around the clock to resolve this issue, many Chief Marketing Officers around the globe saw this as a failure, especially in regards to brand promise and customer experience. The Fragility of the Digital Promise When it comes to modern marketing strategy, consumers are promised uninterrupted access and a seamless customer journey when utilizing a company's app/website. When a user on Venmo is trying to send money or order through GrubHub, they are relying on the brand's promise of reliability. AWS is the bac...

Why Camping Out at 1 A.M. for a $30 Cup is Starbucks’ Most Brilliant—and Riskiest—Marketing Strategy Source Paden Ferguson is a 34 year old CEO who camped out at 1am for a Starbucks limited edition bearista cup. While this sounds like a silly story, it demonstrates a masterclass in marketing strategy on Starbucks part as it reveals the power and peril of viral scarcity. When the green beanie bearista cup was released, the excitement, fueled by social media buzz quickly turned into chaos. As Paden's Starbucks just opened, they realized that only two cups were available at their local store. This experience highlights Starbucks' manipulation of "drop culture," a strategy that turns a $30 item into a highly valuable prize.  The Cuteness Economy Meets Engineered Scarcity The cup's success is rotted in two strategic aspects. Firstly, it taps into the "cute economy" or "Kawaii culture." As experts note, the bear's features such as its big eyes an...

Netflix House: Why the Streaming Giant is Trading Pixels for Pylons Source Netflix has changed strategies. They have officially moved to the suburbs in a bold strategic shift, as the streaming giant opened its first permanent retail and entertainment complex, Netflix House Philadelphia, a 100,000 square foot space in the King of Prussia mall. Inside, they feature a Demogorgon, a pink suited Squid Games guard, a Bridgerton throne, and a full bar. All of these aspects coexist together to showcase a deliberate, disorienting mix of art , marketing, and commerce.  This entertainment complex marks a pivot in Netflix's marketing strategy, as it made a calculated effort to combat the challenges of the digital age by investing heavily in a physical presence. The Strategy: Solving the Attention Saturation Crisis Netflix House is designed to solve the two main issues that the company has been faced with. Firstly, it counters the saturation point for online attention. As one founder noted, com...