The world’s last remaining Blockbuster Video saw a huge spike in sales thanks to their Super Bowl Sunday spot. The best part? They paid a fraction of the price that other advertisers did. A nationally broadcast ad during the Super Bowl will run you roughly $7 million in 2023. Clearly, the little video rental store that could didn’t have the budget for that. So instead they teamed up with an NYC ad agency, that donated their time, to make an ad for social media. Then they dropped it on Instagram during the halftime show.
The Bend, Oregon Blockbuster even embraced their lack of budget as well as their once hated corporate persona. The low-def commercial follows a cockroach while a narrator explains that once streaming dies, they’ll still be here. They even throw in some sweet ’80s synth pop, in case you weren’t already drowning in nostalgia.
The day after the ad ran, Blockbuster saw twice the number of online merchandise orders than all of last week combined. General manager Sandi Harding credits the commercial for this massive uptick in sales. While the store still rents DVDs and VHS, online merchandise makes up most of their sales. And the spike is well-timed, considering this is often a slow season for many retailers. Blockbuster specifically also relies on tourist foot traffic, which is also slower in the January-February time frame.
This store has gained an unexpected cult following in the past few years. When Blockbuster video was at the height of its success, it was often considered one of the worst video chains. Due to their lack of selection, censoring titles, and often running mom-and-pop video stores out of business as soon as they entered a town. Now that goliath has fallen and only one store remains, it is now run more like a smaller, old-school video store. Which is enticing to nostalgia-driven Gen Xers and Millennials.
In 2018, the store got its own craft beer from 10 Barrel Brewing Co. In 2022, Netflix released comedy series “Blockbuster,” about a fictionalized version of the store. It was canceled after one season.
Check out the ad below:
