The Trouble With Bundles

I love bundles. I’ve bought a bunch of them. Movies from Vodo, Drafthouse Films and Cinepacks; numerous promos from Humble Bundle; applications from MacUpdate; and fiction bundles from StoryBundle. And those are just the ones I can easily recall.

Bundles are wonderful and they are undoubtedly a useful tool for independent creators. But they do have a considerable drawback: they incentivize us to wait for bundles. Anyone who pays attention to bundle promotions has undoubtedly experienced the unpleasant sensation brought on by paying for a product, only to see it featured later in a bundle -- with a bunch more products -- for about the same price you already forked out, sometimes even less.

I’m sure plenty of especially awesome people aren’t bothered by this. However, I suspect many others don’t like paying $15 for a movie, then shortly thereafter seeing that same movie plus two more for the same $15 or less.

So I wanted to try to an experiment. With the help of VHX, I’ve created a bundle that’s a win for everyone, new fans and old. New fans get a great deal and old fans get rewarded with goodies they never expected. I’ve called it The Loyalty Bundle and it works like this:

It’s three thematically linked films for fifteen bucks. It's not a rental and there’s no DRM. Watch them whenever and wherever you want, they are yours permanently.

The twist is this: if you’ve already bought one of the films on the VHX platform, you can get the other two for free. (You do, however, have to claim the films within the duration of the promotion.)

I’ve chosen three films that I think have good cross-over appeal. If you enjoyed one of them, I think you might enjoy the other two.

This is Not a Conspiracy Theory
The story the quest to understand the hidden forces that shape our lives. This is an episodic documentary, meaning it gets produced slowly in installments. By sheer coincidence I happen to make it. [Watch Episode One for free]

Indie Game: The Movie
A look at the underdogs of the video game industry, indie game developers. [Watch Trailer]

Rewind This!
The story of the enormous cultural and historical impact of VHS tape. [Watch Trailer]

So that’s my little experiment with bundling. Click here if you'd like to check it out. It's a great deal for new fans and old fans get rewarded for their longtime support. I’m not claiming this kind of bundle should replace the traditional bundle, but it’s another tool creators can add to the mix. If you like the idea, feel free to use it.