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Dish Network launches its own Hat Society

By Sarah Ohmart-New, Oct 13, 2011

Dish Network launched a new national advertising campaign to trumpet its Blockbuster Movie Pass that offers “100,000 movies, TV shows and games right to your door.” 

The new brand commercials are intended to demonstrate that size matters and that the Blockbuster Movie Pass is clearly impressive because of the sheer tonnage of content available through the service.  The TV commercial getting the most airtime includes a group of cowboys in an old town restaurant talking about the perks of Dish’s new service.  And while having cowboys as your spokespeople does not seem too bizarre – especially since Colorado-based Dish Network is headquartered in the “wild west” – what is quirky is that each cowboy that enters the scene is wearing a larger cowboy hat than the prior guy,  to the point that the last man can hardly walk through the door to deliver the best part of Dish’s new deal (it’s all included when you sign up for Dish Network service).

To help reinforce the “size matters” theme, Dish Network is also running a sweepstakes via social media called “ ’Cause Bigger is Better” that is giving away a free Dish subscription that gets lengthier and a flat screen TV of a size that gets larger (up to 55”) the more people enter the contest.

Even though there is a lot of buzz in the marketplace, does the Blockbuster Movies Pass really give people a reason to get up and dance in celebration (as suggested in another TV spot)?  Or will it leave people underwhelmed? Regardless, it is likely not a game changer in the near term.