If I was Chief of Advertising I would...

[rage763]

I just happened to be watching a skiing video on youtube when I saw an add for a product which reeks of success. I started thinking about it, and you can't go anywhere without seeing a particular label thrown around, and I thought to myself, "man, if BlackBerry got its face into this scene (being extreme sports), and sort of "took ques" from this product, it could sure do wonders." Of course the product I'm talking about is Red Bull. Yes, a completely different product, but what a great scene to "invade" IMHO.

Now, I do not know if there is extensive advertising from any major mobile device already at major extreme sports events such as X-Games, etc., but if not I'd say "rock and roll" in there. (It seems I mostly see Red Bull, Monster, JEEP)

I assume by now, lots of people are thinking "that's not the scene for a 'business oriented' device", but I think it's clear with the latest commercial(s) of a DJ rocking his new Bold at da club, that the focus is becoming more broad. And that is something that needs to be done in my mind.

Now, on the other hand, (before flaws are pointed out) I'm no marketing expert (just a 24 year old jail guard), but I do know that almost everyone I know enjoys watching moto-x, sno-x, snowboarding, skateboarding, etc. If BB had their name on something like this New Series coming to NBC - Red Bull Signature Series - YouTube it would go a LONG way.

And as timing is everything, I would time a big campaign like this around the release of BB10. Fresh strategy on a FRESH new product.

Anyways, everyone's got a part of a solution, here's mine. Thanks for reading.

[anthogag]

The sports games you mention are all about socializing and BBM connected fits perfectly into this.

I could see BlackBerry sponsoring this stuff or maybe Olympic athletes, they're always looking for sponsors and Olympic athletes are 'winners'

[SK122387]

The Olympics are coming up in London this summer, and for months, the Olympics are the definition of the world stage. Since we have seen internal RIM slides indicating that OS7 and BB10 devices will coexist, it would be awesome to see some cool commercials for current devices, and maybe a couple commercials with a mysterious flare for the BB10 device, since it won't be out yet, but will be looming as the Fall approaches.

I love BlackBerrys, but commercials have never been what they've done well. I think a commercial with some dramatic music, or sh1t, maybe just a heart thumping is what RIM needs to do.

Flashing a shot of a few key features and having the tv screen go black in between shots WITH the heart beat in the background would be really dramatic... and would leave people wondering "What is BlackBerry up to?? Their heart still beats???!" (let's be honest, people will be asking both of these questions!)

So in my little mind, it would go something like this (imagine the heart beat in your mind haha) :

•a quick glimpse of the front facing camera (that will shut up tons of people up right there)...

•a long black pause

•a quick glimpse of something swiping from one bezel to another, to show how f*cking awesome that is

•another long black pause

•then a quick left to right of the App World carousel showing a few big name apps real quick (shutting up more people..do you see where this is going?)

•another long black pause

•then finally the phone could get a BBM and the message could "SEND LOCATION" which would be Waterloo, Ontario (to let people know that they better get used to seeing Waterloo in the news, not just Cupertino )

•another long black pause

•and finally the phone flips to the back where we see the BlackBerry logo.

We won't see the whole BB10 phone in the commercial, which is what RIM should hope for, so people keep their interest level. As RIM reveals more about the device, they could have a couple more commercials like this, but instead of just physical characteristics of the phone, the dramatic images could be like.. waving the phone past an NFC terminal, as a form of payment, an executive video chatting from his office with his family (obviously the other party will have the family PlayBook).. etc.

I thought of all this in 5 minutes, for free. RIM is welcome to come on here and steal everything I just said. But it would be nice if the people they paid to do this, well..DID IT.

[anthogag]

I definitely like what you're describing.

A lot of movies start advertising months before release date. They know how to generate anticipation. RIM should consult with these people.

...we see quick heart pumping flashes and closer to release date it's 'the dawn of a new era'...

[Xopher]

I think ads should start showing what you can do with the device. These commercials with DJs talking and people dancing to the music, or a barber talking about using BBM doesn't really show HOW the BlackBerry is used. I never got the commercials that barely even showed a BlackBerry, let alone what you can do with one.

Want a good X-Game commercial? How about a winter one where all of the snow boarders get a group BBM message to meet up somewhere, then show different tricks as they travel there. Or a competition that one person adds to the group calendar?

Maybe a commercial with someone losing their BlackBerry, locking it from BlackBerry Protect (show them clicking on the computer screen, then cut to the lost BB as the device locks remotely), finding its location and the owner reunited with it, with the final fade out while the person says "I'm lost without my BlackBerry".

If they actually SHOWED what you can do, rather than devote only 1-2 seconds of a 30+ second commercial for displaying the device, they might be able to compete with the iPhone ads that show all the apps available on it.

Sent from my gTablet using Tapatalk.

[LoganSix]

If I was Chief of RIM, I would...

Sports
... work out a deal with Adidas to create a clothing line with built in ANT+ transmitters and corresponding applications for the BB10s and PlayBook. Each sport would have its own application to measure performance.
For example :

• Tennis/Baseball/Golf etc.. - wrist, arm, waist movements with the swing and clip on accelerometers for clubs/rackets/bats to measure force
• Running/Cycling - heart rate, temperature and accelerator monitors, GPS maps to show different levels during the race
• Weight training/loss - heart rate, temperature, muscle mass auto-measures to track performance

Nobody spends more on a hobby than sports nuts. So you get them hooked on it by showing the clothes and application in use at major "sponsored" sporting events being used by sport super stars. Offer the ability to buy either a piece of clothing or a band/clip monitor at a lower price.

People who do official races like marathons and triathlons, could post their race results to a social network using a racing application that tracks their stats during the race.

Team Sports and Military
...create an application that corresponds with the wearable sensors for team sports. Have a "Coach" application that can see where each player was on the field during a play/game and what their levels were at the time. Without the need for a bunch of cameras focusing on the field, the coach could replay a game and see animation of what each player did.

This application could be translated directly over to the military, which would allow them to monitor all of their soldiers (see Aliens) on the battle field and their positions to each other. And, yes, soldiers are now carry smart phones.

Automotive
... use the existing connection with QNX in almost every car to provide a Radio/HVAC upgrade that uses the PlayBook as the screen. You just get in the car, put your PlayBook where the Radio/HVAC was and it provides all the information you need about the car. Since it is your PlayBook, you still have all of your apps, videos, music etc... with you. You can even connect it to your BB10 phone to provide streaming access. Since it is connected to the cars computer, you can use an app to determine the performance of the car and get reminders on your PlayBook about maintenance. This could be done in cars, trucks, semis, rv's and even touring motorbikes.

And for the weekend racers, there should be an app that has any official racing track in it, to provide information on speed, g-force and race times when you take your car to the track. The app would have the GPS oriented start and finish, so all the information would be determined by the car and not by an external device. It also be a social app, so people can post their stats directly after they complete the race.

Fashion
...work with a high-end watch maker like Tissot/Raymond Weil/Tag Huer to provide a stylish watch to communicate with the BB10 phones to elegantly provide data to user, so they don't have to pull out their phone for every buzz and ring. Watch faces are huge right now, so their is plenty of space for any sort of hidden display or use a transparent glass like the TV's shown at CES.

I would also work with a jewelery company to provide bracelets and other fine jewelery with built in ANT+ to also provide feed back from the BB10 phones so that women don't have to go into their purse to pull out their phone for every buzz and ring.

BlackBerry Lifestyle

Finally, I would get a marketing group to create advertisement focusing on the "BlackBerry Lifestyle". Take it a step beyond the current Bold commercials and show the apps in use that make the lifestyle. I would make sure BlackBerry was a sponsor at any sporting and all sporting events that the athlete could use the monitors.

Manufacturing and Service
...work with companies that build machines that use service technicians. I would sell QNX as the software platform for their machines to run on and then help them create applications for the BB10 and PlayBook which will allow the technician to diagnose the machine with NFC or ANT+ communication. This would be a two pronged strategy of showing the reliability of QNX and the time and cost savings of easier diagnostics.


That's what I would do....for starters.

[reeneebob]

BB was all over the NHL All Star Weekend. I was at the game and skills competition and there were BeBold hash tags all over the place. If you look towards the top left you should see the BB emblem under the ice.




Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

[DINGSTER1]

Perhaps but what is the % of non Canadians who actually watch Hockey? They definitely need to break the bank on some serious advertising and lose the cartoonish images they recently did.

[rage763]

I can picture that commercial already SK122387, you sure can put an image to mind lol. And you are absolutely right, a commercial like that would provide the suspense and mystery and "the need to know more" to everyone. It would kill me lol.

[Jeovex]

Originally Posted by reeneebob

BB was all over the NHL All Star Weekend. I was at the game and skills competition and there were BeBold hash tags all over the place. If you look towards the top left you should see the BB emblem under the ice.




Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

I noticed that. I smiled

[BergerKing]

Originally Posted by anthogag

I definitely like what you're describing.

A lot of movies start advertising months before release date. They know how to generate anticipation. RIM should consult with these people.

...we see quick heart pumping flashes and closer to release date it's 'the dawn of a new era'...

Begin with Something like This and have it pump into a faster sample, make a classic into something new.

[SK122387]

BlackBerry has just never had any excitement in their commercials. I know BlackBerrys weren't originally meant to excite anyone and I'm kind of fine with that because I've never waited in ANY line to buy a device on launch day. But at the same time... it would be nice for people to ask "did you see that BlackBerry commercial? What is that phone?" instead of the weekly articles that my friends and even family (who own BlackBerrys) send me.

I think the new quips like "we need tools not toys" and "action not distraction" are really good for the Bold commercials. But for BB10, RIM has to first get people interested in the device, and then show them what it can do. Maybe a commercial showing where QNX is already used (space launch, the water shows in Vegas, in-car systems etc), to show people how powerful their new system is...and then showing someone put a BB10 device in their back pocket (to show people that RIM has harnessed the power of QNX and put it in their back pocket, literally).

One last idea is a variation of the previous one. You'd have a highly trained person talking about how they use the QNX for something in their line of work. Maybe it's an engineer, or the person who sets up those Las Vegas water shows.. you know, someone whose job seems unique or over most peoples heads. And then have a couple of young people just saying that their BlackBerry has QNX, and them talking about how it helps them do what they do. Maybe it's using a taxi app and BlackBerry Traffic to get to a bar or party, using Shazam in the taxi to find out what the name of a song is, taking pictures and uploading them from the party, and then the next day, sending pictures to BBM contacts with captions like "do you remember this?" BlackBerry has a "youth problem" and it's going to take some youthful commercials to get back their attention. I can think of 5 people who told me that Diplo has a BlackBerry...so while as lame as it might seem to some to have that dj talk about his life for 30 seconds...it worked.

[Resist28]

They need to ditch the metro-fem-boys in some of their adds. Those types go for iphones anyways.

When the style came out back when, the commercial was horrendous. They had some db selling crap shoes on the street and used his style to help him. The style is a working mans phone, people who want the flip are business men, engineers, etc that need a good phone that has smartphone capabilities with the hardiness of the clamshell. Not sure who they were targeting in that add, but it sure wasn't the people that would typically go for that phone.

The new bold adds are decent, I don't like the one with the two musicians.

[Bairdo]

. . . partner up with some wireless providers and get a Blackberry and/or Playbook into the hands of every single North American athlete headed to the Olympics. Get them in their hands as soon as they are selected for the team so they can start documenting their path to, and through, the Olympics - sort of like what they are doing with the NHL, except bigger.

[dandbj13]

First, I would tell everyone in the company to shut up! Every time someone opens their mouth, it turns out bad for RIM. The message needs to come from one voice, one message, not scattered, freeform BS.

Second, promote the product, not the image. The biggest complaint from iDevice haters is that Apple is all marketing, brand, and image. That is exactly what they are suggesting RIM should be. The iPhone is not popular because it is an image phone; it is an image phone because it is popular. It was something people really liked and genuinely wanted for what it was, not for the brand. The iPhone engineered real world solutions for real world problems. It was the answer to a lot of questions and complaints people had about phones.

RIM needs to engineer solutions to real-world problems and make something that people genuinely want to use. When is the last time RIM presented the consumer with a new answer to a nagging question that made the consumer stop and take notice? Do that, and marketing gets a lot easier.

One more thing about branding. Contrary to what is commonly said, Apple does not push image ads; they make product ads. They do not feature celebs, actors, singers, athletes, etc. They don't even show faces if it is not necessary for demonstrating the product. By contrast, RIM's new ad features a cool pair of DJ's who talk about themselves and only mention the phone in passing. When they do mention it, they talk about twitter and messaging fans. There is absolutely nothing that highlights any unique feature of the phone. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it is so NOT something Apple would do. That ad is what iHaters accuse Apple of. It is what RIM actually does.