A couple of days ago,  Andrew Chen tweeted about how startups spending money on brand advertising is a waste. As someone who has written about this before, I have to agree. But, while startups shouldn't try to buy their way to brand recognition, they also shouldn't engage solely in "growth hacking.” Growth hacking techniques, used in conjunction with brand, are so much more powerful. Around '00/'01, the only people buying DVD players were early adopters. The ability to target them was limited. So our CMO at Netflix set up a bounty program for OEMs. They would place our "red ticket" on top of their DVD players at the factory and we would pay them for everyone who converted from a free trial to a paying customer. It was brilliant. The target audience saw our advert at the pinnacle of their DVD player purchase experience - the unboxing. Sounds like growth hacking, right? Yes, but the insert was brand-based. Meaning that the messaging, visual assets, colors, etc. all tied back to the brand position such that when the potential customer landed on our home page it was a continuation of the brand experience. It wasn't growth for growth's sake. Bottom line? Figure out your brand position so your company can grow with purpose. #advertising #netflix #growthhacking #marketing #growth …see more