[dbmalloy]

A Bit more insight for what is to come....

To Sell Its New Z10 Phone, BlackBerry Bets Big On Real-Time Takeovers

When you�re betting the house, you don�t skimp on the marketing. That�s the approach BlackBerry has taken with its BlackBerry 10 operating system and its line of smartphones anchored on the Z10, which hit stores in the U.S. Friday. With great pressure to turn the company�s fortunes around, the company�s looked to innovative marketing to get its phone�s new features out there�and is betting big on tactics chief marketing officer Frank Boulben describes as �real-time marketing.�

BlackBerry will be there as millions of Americans tune in to March Madness�likely costing hundreds of millions of dollars in productivity�as the company will continue to air its �Keep Moving� television commercials; Boulben says commercials from carriers will hit TVs in the next couple of weeks.

But to pull off what Boulben has previously told FORBES is �the greatest comeback in tech history,� you need a lot more than a slick television spot. Since taking on that challenge in June, Boulben and his team have worked with agency BBDO and several digital agencies from within Publicis group like Razorfish on a more aggressive strategy, with tens of millions pumped into the campaign, which is built largely around several versions of a tactic known as the �takeover.�


How a mobile takeover ad of the Time Shift feature for the BlackBerry Z10 looks, from its U.K. campaign. (Image credit: BlackBerry)

These takeovers, piloted in the United Kingdom, will hit U.S. customers soon on computers and their non-Blackberry devices. BlackBerry built out two digital takeovers for desktop, first with The Guardian in the United Kingdom and now with the New York Times. �I think these are a world first,� Boulben says. Those takeovers fill your browser with ad that �takes over� your display, in this case designed to resemble the Hub feature that helps users organize their content on the new BlackBerry 10 devices. Users who see the New York Times takeover, for example, will see the takeover pull in content from the different verticals on the Times� site feeds, its Facebook page and official tweets.



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Android and iPhone users�and chances you are one, given those companies� combined 85% market share�will also experience BlackBerry�s ad content in the form of mobile takeovers starting the week of March 25. Those mobile takeovers will fill your screen with what looks like a BlackBerry 10′s, demoing a specific feature like its photo �Time Shift� capability that allows you to scroll through several captured options for each face in a picture.

BlackBerry knows that it�s not enough simply to resell devices to its remaining brand die-hards; with 5.9% market share there are too few left for that to sustain the company formerly known as RIM. Boulben is bullish about the BlackBerry 10�s competitiveness in regaining customers who left the brand. �The device is productivity oriented, but at the same time it�s a cool one because of some edgy features like Time Shift,� he says.

Before consumers can even weigh in on their taste for those features, Boulben faces the challenge of getting them in front of users who don�t associate BlackBerry with innovation. The marketer points to early results for the phone in the United Kingdom as a positive sign for the company�s odds to do so in the U.S.: users experiencing the mobile takeover there spend an average of 4.2 minutes engaging it, a long time for a piece of marketing content on mobile. BlackBerry says that of its strong sales in the U.K. since launching there at the end of January, one out of three buyers previously owned a non-BlackBerry device.

Boulben is gunning for iPhone and Android users in the U.S., too. �I expect [buyers coming from other platforms] to be a substantial minority of sales in every market and I don�t see why the U.S. would be any different,� Boulben says.


BlackBerry wants you to realize your iPhone thumbs can't keep up. (Image credit: BlackBerry)

One more tactic that BlackBerry hopes will get those users considering BlackBerry will be a keyboard challenge launching later this quarter. The challenge will encourage smartphone users to scan QR codes on digital banner ads and in print to upload the game, which pits you against the Z10 in a typing challenge. (Hint: BlackBerry�s paying for that on the bet that you�ll lose, badly.)

In its uphill battle to regain consumer perception as a major player, Boulben says a strong social media fan base will give the brand a boost: according to the CMO, the brand has a combined 30 million fans on social networks and 18 million subscribed and reachable through email and other consumer relationship management (CRM) pushes. The company also offers a personalized demo on its flagship website that, with a user�s permission, pulls socially-shared data like music and Facebook contacts to give you a unique walk-through of BlackBerry 10 features.

For BlackBerry, there�s no safety net if these new marketing strategies fall on deaf ears and BlackBerry 10 can�t keep its share in the market and start ticking the needle back upward. Boulben�s confident his campaign will the company its best shot at a positive takeover.

Follow me on Twitter at @alexrkonrad.

To Sell Its New Z10 Phone, BlackBerry Bets Big On Real-Time Takeovers - Forbes

[aha]

You need to see Z10 in the front center of the store, that's called "Push". Sitting in the back of the store together with 9900 and Iphone 4s isn't exactly called active marketing.

[Vorkosigan]

Sounds like that 'takeover' campaign would be very cool to see. They really seem to be focusing their marketing, which they need to to get the most bang for their buck. Witness the number of commercials you see during a hockey game in Canada!

Posted via CB10

[Clinto]

Exactly aha! If Boulben thinks that annoying internet spam ads that "take over" your screen and pi$$ people off is going to turn the company around; he's dead wrong.

They need to get their new Flagship Z10 in the front and center of stores with lots of buzz and signage. Doing nothing in the stores and letting the Z10 sit in the back amongst the older generation Androids is only going to hurt BlackBerry worse. WTF is BlackBerry thinking??? This is the U.S., you have to go big or go home over here. Apple and Samsung know it, why hasn't BlackBerry figured this out yet???

[dbmalloy]

I Have worked in retail for a number of years.... never ceases to amaze me how people have not clue how it works..... stores have marketing strategies which promote what they think will sell best.... if BB is relegated to back of the store... it is a simple matter that the stores in question have no faith in the product....Just as reported.. some stores do not promote it and are not interested in it as opposed to other stores which banner it and are enthusiastic about the phones... to think it is some conspiracy against BB is laughable as is the idea that BB can do anything about it... Retail is its own creature.... As pointed out...if there is enough interest shown then the tide may turn..... and maybe it already has....

[Clinto]

I Have worked in retail for a number of years.... never ceases to amaze me how people have not clue how it works..... stores have marketing strategies which promote what they think will sell best.... if BB is relegated to back of the store... it is a simple matter that the stores in question have no faith in the product....Just as reported.. some stores do not promote it and are not interested in it as opposed to other stores which banner it and are enthusiastic about the phones... to think it is some conspiracy against BB is laughable as is the idea that BB can do anything about it... Retail is its own creature.... As pointed out...if there is enough interest shown then the tide may turn..... and maybe it already has....

Prior to my current career as a commercial lines insurance agent, I was a territory manager for a major window company in the U.S. I am fully aware of how stores promote products. That was part of my job. Maybe windows and phones are two different animals... But my company would get together with the major national retailer and together they formulate a plan on how the diplays would look and how the marketing would go. Each company would share the marketing cost as each company would profit from the sales.

Clearly BlackBerry hasn't done enough to support AT&T in their marketing efforts.

[Dave Bourque]

You need to see Z10 in the front center of the store, that's called "Push". Sitting in the back of the store together with 9900 and Iphone 4s isn't exactly called active marketing.

This is directly done by American carriers, **** like this happens nowhere else in the world.

Posted via CB10

[Dave Bourque]

So you are telling me BlackBerry needs to give special incentives to sell their product? While in the rest of the world they sell it as they were told to do!?

Posted via CB10

[devcellent]

Few months ago, analysts were talking about the possibility of BlackBerry being taken over, and Lenovo also tried to create some buzz around that a few times recently. Now, lets see how the reverse take over of the smartphone battle shakes up!

[Clinto]

So you are telling me BlackBerry needs to give special incentives to sell their product? While in the rest of the world they sell it as they were told to do!?

Posted via CB10

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying Dave Bourque. Here's how it works. Displays, dumby units and signage all cost money right? Who supplies all of that stuff? BlackBerry does. They are driving the "Keep Moving" marketing program. They must ensure that all of their displays in any store across the world has the same look and feel so you can have that "BlackBerry experience".

So when phone companies want to get that signage, they have to buy from BlackBerry. Now if a certain carrier such as At&t purchases 1 Mil devices (which they have), then they will get a special deal on displays, marketing and signage. BlackBerry may supply it for free or at a huge discount.
Or.. in this case, if BlackBerry is looking to get back in the game in the U.S., they may need to buy their way back in and possibly pay At&t to do this stuff. How do they pay them? They offer special deals only to At&t, so that At&t's gross margin is very good and very profitable.

If At&t wasn't impressed enough with the Z10 to "want" to buy the marketing materials, then BlackBerry is going to have to "buy" their way in.

It's the only choice they have. BlackBerry needed to make a deal with At&t to secure a spot on their floor space. To help entice At&t, BlackBerry should have made it worth their while with dollars.

This is the ugly truth. And this is what BlackBerry should have done, as their success depends on it.