Food for thought: The spy who sold out
Forgiving a pretty face
Facebook to agencies: how will people share your story?
Is “The Pitch” an accurate reflection of our industry?
RIM has been in the news a lot lately, and almost entirely for negative reasons. In an attempt to turn around their negative momentum they announced a new (sort-of) CEO. Promoting a current employee was clearly not the dramatic change analysts were looking for, as the stock continued to get hammered. What I did find interesting was the new CEO’s comment that a top priority was to find a new CMO to help increase their desirability. A CEO’s overt declaration that marketing in itself is an essential piece of the puzzle is music to any marketer’s ears. After years of of being in the shadow of marketing behemoth Apple, I know that marketing alone can’t turn RIM around. I am, however, convinced that it can help create a vision and purpose around which a company can rally.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that for an advertiser/marketer, this is the challenge of a lifetime. Sure, it’s fun to work on hip, healthy, established brands like Apple or Nike. But I’d argue there’s no greater challenge right now in the marketing world than RIM. To give people a compelling reason to trade in their iPhone for a Blackberry, or their iPad for a Playbook, now there’s a challenge to test your mettle. It’s worth remembering that Apple was on its last legs in recent memory. And for that matter, it was mere years ago that Blackberry’s hold on the phone market seemed unbreakable.
Blackberry already has a truckload of assets, not the least of which is that Blackberry is still the smartphone of choice for most young teens and tweens. Advertisers are all intimately aware of the “get ‘em young, keep ‘em for life” parable. But for some reason, Blackberry’s foothold begins to slip. Most iPhone and Android users over the age of 30 once owned a Blackberry – so the challenge in this case is winning them back, instead of initiating trial.
While some see RIM as a sinking ship, I see it as a diamond in the rough. They fall under a category that has always been earmarked by fickle consumer behaviour and fluctuating trends. Today’s loyal Android user may well be tomorrow’s Apple convert and vice-versa. I’m of the mind that RIM’s reclaimed supremacy is out there waiting to be realized. Of course, the window of opportunity is closing; RIM will need to act quickly and decisively.
As a proud Canadian, I look forward to the day that RIM gets its mojo back. And if RIM’s future CMO is reading this, I can be reached at: randystein@griplimited.com
Rawbie
February 22, 2012 @ 10:56 am
Let’s not forget how Apple was in the exact same position in 1997 and look at what they went on to become.
Julie
February 22, 2012 @ 11:50 am
I think people can be won back to the Blackberry! I have an iphone or an “adult soother” as my husband – a devoted BBerry user – refers to it. The iphone is not a great phone for business and after three years I’m almost ready to switch back.
Joel Derksen
February 22, 2012 @ 12:48 pm
Advertising is great, but the #1 thing you need for a successful marketing platform is visionary buy-in from the internal culture.
A brand position can start the fire, and marketing can keep it lit for a while, but until all of the engineers, designers, UX teams, and internal groups buy in and focus towards that — and that takes a very special visionary with an unabashed ax to shake up the status quo over there — then it’s lipstick on a pig.
Andrew
February 22, 2012 @ 4:07 pm
I would prefer to have a Blackberry for a variety of reasons (business applications, security, BBM) but none of their phones have a big enough keyboard for my liking. They come out with a phone with a large side-slide out keyboard, I am there.
Thom Antonio
February 22, 2012 @ 6:22 pm
For RIM to regain its lustre, I think that it needs to be about the products. Unbelievably great products that everyone wants first. Apple makes you believe you need every one of their products even if they overlap in function. Blackberry is still just about a semi-smart phone that supposedly has better security. If all they choose to talk about is the difference in keyboards then that’s all its ever going to be about. The advertising could be great but if they don’t fix the product they deliver, then nobody is going to trust or rely on them again.
Marcel Witbooi
February 23, 2012 @ 10:56 am
The value of marketing is important and it’s great that RIM recognizes that. What is just as important in the battle for market share is regaining the product innovation that turned RIM into a powerhouse in the first place.