• 0

Marketoonist | Tom Fishburne

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.

  • Campaigns
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Cartoons
  • Contact
  • Book
  • 0

product bundles

September 14, 2014 7 Comments

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $35.00 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $100.00 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $50.00 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

“There are only two ways to make money in business: One is to bundle; the other is to unbundle,” Jim Barksdale said 20 years ago at Netscape. I was struck by a recent HBR interview with Jim and fellow Netscape alum Mark Andreessen about the role of bundling and unbundling in business.

Cable TV providers of course get the most attention for product bundles that rankle consumers — forcing everyone to subscribe to the same long tail of TV channels, when all a particular subscriber might want is a handful of channels.

The Cable TV incumbents have long resisted any changes to the status quo, but, increasingly, consumers are finding ways to “cut the cord” through unbundled season downloads from services like iTunes, creatively re-bundled services like Netflix and Hulu, or non-TV entertainment like YouTube. Verizon responded to the cord cutters with an announcement this week that they will offer an a la carte TV service by mid-2015.

This friction between bundling and unbundling underlies many industries from media to software. The evolution in the music industry from 45s (unbundled) to LPs and CDs (bundled) to single-song downloads (unbundled) to streaming services like Pandora and Spotify (bundled) is an example the constant change under many industries.

At the center of any of these shifts is what is better for consumers at the time. Incumbents often stubbornly resist the shift, focusing aggressively on trying to keep things as they are, rather than offering a better solution. You can only sit on the other side of what consumers want for so long. This dynamic create a lot of opportunity for new businesses, and the classic breeding environment for challenger brands.

As Jim Barksdale says in the HBR interview, “Of course, you always are bundling and unbundling. You can’t stand still.”

Here’s a cartoon I drew last year on “standing still”. I’d love to hear your thoughts on bundling and unbundling.

(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away a signed cartoon print. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post by 5:00 PST on Monday. Thanks!)

130311b.complacent

Filed Under: innovation

Get a new marketoon each week:

Previous Post Next Post

rebranding

new and improved

Browse similar cartoons in: innovation

Browse By Category See All Marketoons

7 Comments

Join the Discussion
  1. John Dodds says

    September 14, 2014 at 9:01 am

    I agree completely, but this runs deep in the entertainment business where producers have historically sold the ancillary rights of unsuccessful movies/series bundled up with those of the hits so as to inflate the income of the former.

    Reply
  2. Oun Tanwa says

    September 15, 2014 at 6:13 am

    Bundling is worse in Canada where I live where you have only a handful of companies controlling telecoms, cable TV AND Internet…

    Not only do they force you to buy TV channels you don’t want to watch, you’re coerced into buying other services from them as well because the cost is astronomical if you’re only buying one service…

    The incentive to change is even smaller for companies in these oligopolistic industries.

    I am hoping for the day when we have disruptors that can up-end this customer-unfirendly setup

    Reply
  3. DSprogis says

    September 15, 2014 at 6:31 am

    “Act now and get the potato peeler!”

    Excessive consumption is such a disgrace. Our poor planet is taking it on the chin for all our excesses – bundling, up-selling, what ever you want to call it. It also makes cost comparison more difficult for the core item you want.

    Reply
  4. Jackie B says

    September 15, 2014 at 10:52 am

    The dilemma is – I don’t always know what is best. Travelers on planes thought that just “buying a plane seat” was the answer. But they didn’t really understand (nor probably the airline, either) what the actual cost of a bundled seat was vs. and unbundled seat. It is not as people can answer completely. However your current cartoon drives home the idea that there might be better bundles…..like do I really want to pay the added fee for the sports programs – since I really don’t even want one!!!? Thanks again for insight and contemplation, Tom.

    Reply
  5. Meshack says

    September 15, 2014 at 11:29 am

    I wanted to add that cable bundling isn’t always a bad thing. It might allow for channels to exist that put out good content that might not be commercially viable on their own. If I were a cable subscriber I would want sports to be unbundled however.

    Reply
  6. Stephen Macklin says

    September 28, 2014 at 7:04 am

    It was a smart move by Verizon to announce an a la carte TV service. My first thought when I heard that news was how to manage the process of unwinding from my current cable company since I also use them for internet access and phone service.

    My second thought was that this would be such a hassle it might be better to work on convincing my current provider to change.

    Reply
  7. Michaela Mora says

    September 28, 2014 at 9:59 am

    Luckily, market research can help to answer question whether to bundle or not. I wish more companies would be aware of that. Most of the time, customers are not really against bundling, they just want a bundle that is relevant to their needs. When this option is not offered, the natural reaction is to think they want everything un-bundled, but they tend to underestimate the effort required during the purchase decision making if too many options are available, which can result in not buying at all. Tom, thank you for inspiring this blog post on the subject: http://www.relevantinsights.com/product-bundling-to-do-or-not-to-do

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $35.00 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $100.00 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $50.00 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Your Ad Ignored Here Book Image

15 years of Marketoonist compiled for your marketing pleasure.

Order Now

About Marketoonist

tom_image

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne a career marketer and cartoonist. Learn More...

Subscribe

Get a new marketoon delivered to your inbox each week.

 

Browse Blog Posts

Most Popular Cartoons Browse Categories

Marketoon Campaigns

contentmarketing

Content marketing with a sense of humor.

Learn More

Keynote Speaking

speakingworkshops

Insightful, funny, and visual keynote talks and workshops.

Book Tom to Speak

Search Blog Posts

Interested? Let’s Talk!

Marketoons

Browse Categories

Get New Cartoons Weekly

About Marketoonist

Tom Fishburne is the Founder and CEO of Marketoonist, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons.

© 2023 Marketoonist