At one point or another, we’ve all thought of a product or idea that could become a brand. Creativity fuels business beginnings, but building a brand is far more than bringing an idea to life. A product may start for you, but a great brand starts with others in mind, your target audience. Without a true connection to consumers’ lives, values, and evolving behaviors, even the strongest idea risks fading away.
Many businesses start with a financial plan, a summary, and a product roadmap. Yet what often gets overlooked is the granular detail of brand building: Will consumers grow alongside your brand? Will your brand remain meaningful as their lifestyles evolve? If not, the result can look very much like the predictable decline of Blockbuster.
Applying the Brand Resonance Model to Blockbuster
The Brand Resonance Model illustrates four stages of brand development: Identity, Meaning, Response, and Relationships. When a brand fails to climb, or sustain, these levels, it risks losing relevance and, ultimately, loyalty.
1. Identity — Salience (Who are you?)
At its peak, Blockbuster had strong salience. Nearly everyone associated movie rentals with the brand. Walking into Blockbuster on a Friday night was a shared cultural experience. The brand had achieved broad awareness and deep familiarity.
2. Meaning — Performance & Imagery (What are you?)
Blockbuster’s meaning, however, was too tightly tied to physical stores and late fees. Its performance centered around convenience at the time; wide selection, physical location, membership programs. But when consumer preferences began shifting toward on-demand and digital streaming, Blockbuster’s performance no longer aligned with evolving expectations. Competitors like Netflix began reshaping the image of what movie-watching could look like—personalized, accessible, and penalty-free.
3. Response — Judgements & Feelings (What about you?)
As frustrations with late fees grew, consumer judgments about Blockbuster turned negative. Feelings shifted from excitement to hassle. Meanwhile, Netflix positioned itself around customer empowerment and convenience, winning positive reactions. Blockbuster failed to reassess how customers felt and judged their experience.
4. Relationships — Resonance (What about you and me?)
Here lies Blockbuster’s biggest breakdown: resonance. The brand never transitioned into cultivating loyalty, attachment, or community in a way that adapted to changing consumer lifestyles. While Netflix built a sense of belonging through personalized recommendation and binge-watching culture, Blockbuster’s relationship with consumers stalled. Without resonance, there was no intense loyalty to sustain the brand when alternatives emerged.
The Story’s Data
- Peak Scale: Blockbuster once operated over 9,000 stores globally and had 65 million registered users, reflecting deep early resonance — Jordan Neese, Blockbuster: The Rise and Fall of the Iconic Video Store.
- Financial Strain: By 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy. Its finances hindered by dwindling store traffic and mounting competition — Chris Hope, Case Study: Blockbuster.
- Behavior Shift: Netflix’s rise and consumer migration toward streaming amplified Blockbuster’s dwindling relevance, highlighting its delayed response to marketplace transformation — Ken Auletta, Outside the Box.
Learning Points for Today’s Brands
Blockbuster’s story is more than nostalgia—it’s a warning. The company clung to its original business model rather than evolving with consumer transitions. It misunderstood the fundamental truth: brands must grow in tandem with consumers.
Today’s companies face similar transitions with AI, digital personalization, and shifting consumer expectations. Just as streaming reshaped entertainment, AI is reshaping how consumers discover, interact, and remain loyal to brands. Success will come to those that continuously ask:
- Are we creating meaning that aligns with today’s consumer lifestyles?
- Are we earning positive responses by removing friction and adding value?
- Are we building resonance that fosters loyalty and community, not just transactions?
Blockbuster didn’t fail because people stopped watching movies. It failed because it stopped resonating with the people who watched them. And in today’s climate of rapid change, that lesson feels more urgent than ever.