Flix on Stix Movie Rental - Another Revolutionary Use for Branded USBs

We have slowly been witnessing USB flash drives take the place of their less advanced predecessor, the CD. We have been finding that more and more photographers are sending newly wed photos on branded USB flash drives in place of CD’s and we recently reported in one of our articles Ford replacing CD players in their new Focus’ with a USB port as standard (CD Player Dropped from New Ford Focus – Replaced With USB Ports).  We have now found quite a revolutionary new way that USB memory sticks are being used instead of CDs, DVDs and even Blu-Ray Discs.

The traditional film rental market is facing pretty gloomy times with the development of easier ways to rent films such as Love Film and online rental.  However, Flix on Stix thinks that they may have found a gap in the market with an alternative way to rent films.  The name of the company pretty much explains the idea, films are rented using a USB flash drive.  Films are rented and transferred onto a USB memory stick via kiosks resembling ATM machines.  The clever part of this idea is how the films are rented.

Flix on Stix Movie Rental

Flix on Stix distribute a company branded USB memory stick, known as a ‘passport’ to customers wanting to use the service.  The flash drive is pre-loaded with proprietary anti-theft software to stop the transfer of the films once rented and the files will self-delete when the specified rental days have expired.  The flash drives and ports are also USB 3.0 to ensure a speedy transfer rate of the chosen film.

Branded USB Flash Drive

The idea has some legs as it eradicates problems that traditional film rental stores had with late fees, scratched discs or limited copies of a particular film.  Another benefit is that you do not have to leave the house to get and return the film, only to get the film.  However, this venture is up against other popular film rental developments such as online movie rental through stores such as iTunes, Blockbusters and also the services on Sky and Virgin television.

Despite these issues it is clear that Flix on Stix is a revolutionary use for promotional USB memory sticks.  The use of USB flash drives allows for more advanced technology that CDs or DVDs such as 3.0 transfer speeds, the pre-loaded anti-virus software, timed file deletion but most importantly company branding.

Having the promotional USB flash drives that would be used to transfer and play the films would get Flix on Stix much more brand exposure that traditional methods.  When the person downloads the film they will use the flash drive, when they play the film in a room full or friends they will use the flash drive and when they talk about the service to friends they can show them the flash drive.  The brand exposure for the company is much wider than with traditional DVD renting.  Now only time will tell if the idea catches on and can stand up to the tough competition.