1. theRock1975's Avatar
    There are so many posters complaining about the poor marketing in the US.

    We Canadians have been bombarded with advertising. In shopping centers, on TV and radio, on the Internet. It is insane how much effort the company is putting into marketing. The phones are selling very well here. Bbry has reported revenues up 30% in North America, most of the increases are from Canada.

    There are reports that Saudi Arabian market share increased from 8% to 20%, tying ios at 20% as well.

    The other strong hold is UK. These 3 launches came first and were marketed well.

    Now that they're out of the way, I believe bbry will pounce on USA this fall really hard by taking a break from the other countries. By that time there will be 200k+ apps and 4 phones to show. A10 in October?

    Divide and Conquer Keep it up Monsieur Boulben! You don't have the economy of scale but you're doing it right. When the government upgrades start coming this summer, bbry will muster up all its strength(and cashflow) and hit USA hard!

    Posted via CB10
    ricocan likes this.
    07-05-13 10:43 PM
  2. leejayh's Avatar
    I believe that the lack of marketing in the USA is deliberate. My bet is that Blackberry realizes that they have a huge hill to climb and that they need to spend their precious dollars wisely. There is no use in spending money on the US if they do not have an impactful message and convincing differentiator.

    Much better to conserve their cash and focus focus focus. So, given that they have some adequate advertizing in LGA and JFK airports, and have been giving free WIFI on Delta airplane flights - it would be reasonable to believe that they are focusing in on their core corporate market for now. A wise strategy.

    I have heard the following too many times:
    "No instagram - then no way"
    "No snapchat, no way"
    "No icloud or itunes, no way"
    "No insert-app-here, then no way"

    The consumer market is tough because everyone has their "must have" app - that is important to them. But for much of the Corporate market, the employeer does not give a sh!t if you can Instagram your food or snap a selfie to your girl friend. So, they focus on making the best communication tool for business. When enough of the other Consumer apps arrive - i bet they will go bigger. So, maybe we will see more in Q4. I just hope they survive the investors that long.
    07-05-13 11:15 PM
  3. MasterOfBinary's Avatar
    I've thought of this. Perhaps they figure the rest of the world will be a bit more forgiving and are giving them a chance to test and get apps. Maybe with A10 and 10.2 they will try to push their phones more in the US.

    Or, perhaps their just being themselves and doing a bad job.
    h20work and shaleem like this.
    07-05-13 11:28 PM
  4. southlander's Avatar
    Yes I think the USA is different for BlackBerry and they know it.

    Posted via BlackBerry 10
    07-05-13 11:42 PM
  5. DenverRalphy's Avatar
    There's no lack of BB marketing in the US. It's everywhere. I see it every day in substantial quantities.

    It's not the amount of marketing that's lacking. It's the quality of marketing. None of the marketing in the US gives any clue as to why a consumer would reasonably choose BB over iOS or Android. And the price points don't help either. The general attitude of any consumer in the US is simple... "Get the most bang for the buck within the price range as I can afford". Want to sell to a US consumer? Show them what they'll get over the competition at a competitive price point.
    h20work and tix6174 like this.
    07-05-13 11:52 PM
  6. w0lfgang's Avatar
    The thought has crossed my mind....surrender the US, fallback, regroup, counter-attack....but I have to agree with DenverRalphy....any putz can "advertise" and spend on posters and billboards....the US consumer is SO bombarded with commercials, that you better have something emotional, attention-grabbing, and compelling....putting up a poster that says "Keep moving" ain't gonna do it....FACT
    07-06-13 12:15 AM
  7. web99's Avatar
    There's no lack of BB marketing in the US. It's everywhere. I see it every day in substantial quantities.

    It's not the amount of marketing that's lacking. It's the quality of marketing. None of the marketing in the US gives any clue as to why a consumer would reasonably choose BB over iOS or Android. And the price points don't help either. The general attitude of any consumer in the US is simple... "Get the most bang for the buck within the price range as I can afford". Want to sell to a US consumer? Show them what they'll get over the competition at a competitive price point.
    From what I have seen in the US, it varies from place to place. In some cities the BB10 advertising is very visible, while in other places it is nonexistent.


    Posted via CB10 from my spectacular Z10
    07-06-13 12:31 AM
  8. VictorRight's Avatar
    If BlackBerry breaks out in the USA this fall, Good!

    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 12:45 AM
  9. xBURK's Avatar
    Good points here. I hope there is a great plan for the States. Unfortunately, I can't see BlackBerry doing well without them. I don't know, I just hope some of your views are correct.

    Posted via CB10
    Last edited by xBURK; 07-06-13 at 09:36 AM.
    07-06-13 12:56 AM
  10. pr1nce's Avatar
    I was in my local corporate Verizon store tonight. A Blackberry display is non existent. They have dummy models of the Q10 and Z10 setup with other 4G phones.
    07-06-13 01:05 AM
  11. unbreakablej's Avatar
    Maybe they are waiting for 10.2 to fix all the current issues first before pushing it in the us so that it will make a bigger bang!

    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 05:03 AM
  12. bakron1's Avatar
    I believe that the lack of marketing in the USA is deliberate. My bet is that Blackberry realizes that they have a huge hill to climb and that they need to spend their precious dollars wisely. There is no use in spending money on the US if they do not have an impactful message and convincing differentiator.

    Much better to conserve their cash and focus focus focus. So, given that they have some adequate advertizing in LGA and JFK airports, and have been giving free WIFI on Delta airplane flights - it would be reasonable to believe that they are focusing in on their core corporate market for now. A wise strategy.

    I have heard the following too many times:
    "No instagram - then no way"
    "No snapchat, no way"
    "No icloud or itunes, no way"
    "No insert-app-here, then no way"

    The consumer market is tough because everyone has their "must have" app - that is important to them. But for much of the Corporate market, the employeer does not give a sh!t if you can Instagram your food or snap a selfie to your girl friend. So, they focus on making the best communication tool for business. When enough of the other Consumer apps arrive - i bet they will go bigger. So, maybe we will see more in Q4. I just hope they survive the investors that long.
    I agree and from what everyone I have shown the z10 & Q10 here is the USA say the same thing over and over "No Core Apps".

    Until those core apps that are already available and polished in the Apple & Android platforms are available in the BB world, no one is going to risk jumping over to the Blackberry world.

    Even in the corporate world, apps and future product support are becoming one of the requirements for future smartphone purchases. The last two clients I had that where using Blackberry have moved to IOS.

    I used to have over 120 BBM contacts and 8 groups and now I have NO BBM contacts and only ONE BBM group left and when BBM is released for IOS, I will no longer have a need for a Blackberry device anymore. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the way things are here now wether you choose to accept it or not.

    Now Samsung is going to launch their own corporate stores here in the USA to compete against Apple. This is also going to chip away at the sliver of the market share that Blackberry has left here.

    Unless Blackberry can come up with a device that has an ecosystem with apps that are better and/or on par with the competition and a touch screen device that has better hardware then what the big two already have, I afraid it's only going to get worse.




    Sent using the CB app from my iPhone 5
    angieberry10 likes this.
    07-06-13 06:36 AM
  13. theRock1975's Avatar
    The thought has crossed my mind....surrender the US, fallback, regroup, counter-attack....but I have to agree with DenverRalphy....any putz can "advertise" and spend on posters and billboards....the US consumer is SO bombarded with commercials, that you better have something emotional, attention-grabbing, and compelling....putting up a poster that says "Keep moving" ain't gonna do it....FACT
    I agree the "Keep moving" campaign is a little stale. They should try comedy.

    A homeless guy once stopped me and said the funniest thing ever, I forget what it was but it earned him a big $5 even though he was asking for some change.

    He made my day, I just had to give him cash.


    Posted via CB10
    xBURK and BAS84 like this.
    07-06-13 07:49 AM
  14. notfanboy's Avatar
    Does this mean the multimillion dollar SuperBowl ad was a deliberate (as opposed to unintended) waste of money then?
    07-06-13 07:51 AM
  15. rjkolo's Avatar
    They are making more money in other countries, they have carrier support (regardless of what they say) in other countries, and I don't blame them one bit. It is smart marketing, if they want to build market share in the US they need to stop missing dates, stop trying to play catch up with iOS and Android, and stop using terms like "coming soon" and actually hit a date.

    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 07:53 AM
  16. birdman_38's Avatar
    Does this mean the multimillion dollar SuperBowl ad was a deliberate (as opposed to unintended) waste of money then?
    Yes, it was.

    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 08:21 AM
  17. njblackberry's Avatar
    I think business people know that BlackBerry is not bankrupt, but they became irrelevant (and old) and most people don't seem to know or care that new devices are out.

    The problem with the theory that the lack of marketing and sales is deliberate is that the longer BlackBerry takes to get back in the game in the US (yes, it was the "greatest launch ever" elsewhere - we know how that ended up), the longer people have to buy new iPhones and Androids. 91% market share between the two.

    So what has the American consumer (and business) heard?
    - Keep Moving, Hub and Peek and Flow. Hardly inspiring,
    - "There are no apps" - while totally untrue - a few key apps are missing - that's what they hear
    - "They missed their numbers" - which is all over the news and papers.

    No one cares about the Playbook except us.

    I don't think it was deliberate. I think they are lost in the duopoly and the carriers sell what people want.

    Could they be saved by the Enterprise? Maybe. I am not confident that BES10 as an MDM can overtake some robust competitors that are already in house. That's a tough one in tight budget times. If everyone uses ActiveSync, where's the differentiator.

    My company has gone from 6,000 BBs to 1500. Exactly one (1) VIP has asked for a Q10, which he got. It has not caught on fire anywhere and I don't think it is a deliverate strategy.

    Monsieur Boulben (I have spoken with him) gets a "no" from me.
    theRock1975 likes this.
    07-06-13 08:24 AM
  18. theRock1975's Avatar
    Does this mean the multimillion dollar SuperBowl ad was a deliberate (as opposed to unintended) waste of money then?
    Good point. Super bowl and f1 have worldwide reach too and sponsorship doesn't just target one country.

    I'll give more examples of marketing in Canada. At a local shopping center, there are huge bb10 signs and displays in all the smartphone stores like rogers, fido, best buy mobile.
    On the way out of the shopping center there are automatic doors that open up as you exit. Even these doors have "keep moving" stickers with the standard Alicia Keys album and peek open.

    The marketing has died down since launch but there was a big push and lots of buzz here. It almost feels like the marketers went elsewhere.






    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 08:41 AM
  19. njblackberry's Avatar
    The Super Bowl ad was only shown in the US.
    I have watched Super Bowls in other countries and all of the advertising is local.

    That ad was for the US and it failed. Keep Moving?
    07-06-13 08:43 AM
  20. birdman_38's Avatar
    The Super Bowl ad was only shown in the US.
    I have watched Super Bowls in other countries and all of the advertising is local.

    That ad was for the US and it failed. Keep Moving?
    Not to mention they advertised a product that wasn't available for purchase.

    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 08:45 AM
  21. njblackberry's Avatar
    Maybe they were build up momentum for the big launch three months later?
    07-06-13 08:46 AM
  22. ricocan's Avatar
    I think that if BBRY wants to distinguish it self in today's market they will need to go after the next wave of technology advancement. If the Smartphone market is softening and high prices are driving decisions by consumers then BBRY needs to show how their value proposition is superior to the other platforms. This will likely be an easier sell to corporate America than it will to the average consumer. From there the consumers will learn what can be done and will be more open to the platform.

    What is the platform, mobile computing, corporate America is currently buying 2 devices for each employee, a PC and a smartphone, and they are close in price , what if the company could reduce the to one device connected to a monitor and keyboard they already have, add a low cost dock and eliminate the desktop phone. There would be a significant cost advantage, some in hardware but more around the cost of the support infrastructure needed for 3 separate systems.

    Individual consumer need for this integration would slowly follow, and accelerate as more people are exposed to it.


    Just my thoughts, not substantiated by anything more than observations and personal interpretation of what I read in the forums.


    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 09:41 AM
  23. bob_tn's Avatar
    Over the past two days I have seen TV commercials for the Q10 on two different channels. And they have been true BlackBerry commercials. Not just a trailer on one of the carrier ads.
    It's good to start seeing them showing up.
    Though I wish they would have included the Z10 in them too.


    Posted via CB10
    BBVegasGirl80 likes this.
    07-06-13 09:42 AM
  24. birdman_38's Avatar
    Maybe they were build up momentum for the big launch three months later?
    Haha

    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 10:11 AM
  25. xBURK's Avatar
    I agree the "Keep moving" campaign is a little stale. They should try comedy.

    A homeless guy once stopped me and said the funniest thing ever, I forget what it was but it earned him a big $5 even though he was asking for some change.

    He made my day, I just had to give him cash.


    Posted via CB10
    You make a really good point. What takes your mind off your troubles more than comedy. Nothing. (Well mabey booze, dope and a good strip club) but that's not possible in this case. BlackBerry has always been know for being too serious. Plus, there is something to be said about making fun of yourself that makes people warm up to you. BlackBerry definitely needs that at this point.

    Posted via CB10
    07-06-13 11:05 AM
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