Amazon Gives Manchester-by-the-Sea Residents Free Year of Prime

Amazon.com is celebrating the streaming debut of its Oscar-winning film, "Manchester-by-the-Sea," by giving a free year of Prime membership to the residents of the Massachusetts fishing town the movie is named after. This week, the e-commerce giant will ship to every Manchester household a gift box with a code to enroll in Prime for free and three packs of popcorn from Amazon’s own private label brand, Wickedly Prime. The membership means that the 5,000 or so residents of the city will get access to Prime Video in time for their namesake movie’s launch on May 5.

Total Retail's Take: A smart marketing and public relations move by Amazon to promote its profitable subscription business, of which streaming video is a key perk. Media outlets, like Total Retail, are running with this seemingly good-natured move by Amazon, but part of me can't help but think there are ulterior motives at work here. Amazon creates awareness for it Prime business, is likely to gain some new subscribers after the free year is up, and gets a ton of good press in the process. Perhaps I'm being too cynical.