[Superfly_FR]

There's a world between perception and reality.
I know most of us perceived BlackBerry's P.R (and marketing in general) as weak, poor, nonsense or whatever.
This won't change fully your perception, but I believe it may bend it a little ... or more.

BlackBerry on its deathbed? PR staff says, �€˜No!�€™ and turns the tide | Special Edition Ragan's PR Daily Awards | Awards

In June 2012, BlackBerry’s PR department launched an amazing blitz that signaled BB’s resurrection. The big weapon in this campaign: good old handshake, glad-to-meet-you PR.
[...]
By January 2013, BlackBerry had orchestrated an astonishing turnaround:

• Its personal, executive-led Global World Carrier Tour had persuaded big mobile phone service carriers that BlackBerry was back.
• Two separate media tours in America connected with 40 important tech journalists.
• In Canada from October to December 2012, live regional BlackBerry Z10 demos led to 104 stories and 21.3 million impressions.
• BlackBerry execs’ face-to-face talks with media and influencers at the Consumer Electronics Show generated more than 50 neutral-to-positive stories.
• Virtual and live CEO-led town hall meetings reached 95 percent of BlackBerry employees month after month.
• In January 2013, 750 journalists attended demos of final hardware and software and the launch of the Z10 in six countries, writing 16,000 articles. Globally, 2,000 broadcasts occurred.
• BlackBerry Jam World Tour reached 10,000 app developers, analysts, and journalists in 44 live-event locations in 37 countries, spurring more than 200 media briefings.
• Global news sentiment about BlackBerry was 85 percent positive.

[...]
For engineering this startling transformation of the company’s global reputation under the most difficult, discouraging circumstances imaginable, BlackBerry’s corporate communications department is the co-winner of the Best Traditional Campaign category in the 2013 PR Daily Awards.

Any armchair CMO ?

Source : via Twitter Dapper/Berryflow.com

Dapper ‏@getdjmac 4 h How BlackBerry PR Signaled A Resurrection Of The Company | http://berryflow.com/blackberry-pr-signaled-resurrection-company/ …

[Shanerredflag]

This can't be true...clearly it's a forgery...a fraud...a made up nonsensical piece of self promotion.

. Good find SF

Posted via CB10

[Superfly_FR]

This can't be true...clearly it's a forgery...a fraud...a made up nonsensical piece of self promotion.
. Good find SF
Posted via CB10

That's just a way to remind that out of context (as in "under the most difficult, discouraging circumstances imaginable"), analysis is nothing but intellectual m@$turb@tion.

[m1a1mg]

OK, I'll bite. It's a fluff piece. They come out all the time. Honestly Super, do you believe the stuff in that?

Also, take note of the last sentence:
This took real nerve. It was a calculated gamble that paid off hugely.

It did???? From January 2013 til now, how has the company fared? That should be the ultimate test of the PR department.

[Tyler Nellissen]

Fast forward 11 months since the "pr turn around" and... well, here we are.

Posted via CB10

[Superfly_FR]

OK, I'll bite. It's a fluff piece. They come out all the time. Honestly Super, do you believe the stuff in that?

Also, take note of the last sentence:
This took real nerve. It was a calculated gamble that paid off hugely.

It did???? From January 2013 til now, how has the company fared? That should be the ultimate test of the PR department.

Do you believe the P.R, witch is - alone - what I'm referring to is THE one to blame for that ?

What is interesting is that P.R have their own metrics to measure performance.
Was it enough to turn the situation in favor of BlackBerry ? Obviously, not.
Could it be ? just no.

Was it efficient in a P.R perspective and achievements significant ? Yes sir, undoubtedly.

P.S: I knew this (bite) was coming, do you sincerely believe I could ignore it when I wrote that ?

[m1a1mg]

Sorry to bring reality into the love fest, but here goes:

August 14, 2013, 2:04am

THERE was a spike for BlackBerry on Twitter on Monday with 41 per cent of the UK Twitter population exposed to messages about the brand. They were of course hearing the news that the mobile phone manufacturer is setting up a committee to explore potential business model options, including selling off the company.

So what is on offer to a potential buyer in terms of what the consumer makes of the brand? I’ve taken a look at five years’ worth of daily brand perception data on YouGov BrandIndex to evaluate where BlackBerry stands with consumers.

Back in the summer of 2008 the brand was flying high. BlackBerry’s Index score (a composite of six key image attributes) peaked at plus 28 in the US in the spring of 2009, and although a slow decline started soon after, in the UK the rise would continue for two more years, peaking at plus 26 in the spring of 2011. Since then, however, times have been difficult for BlackBerry; its decline in the US accelerated, and in the UK there was a steep drop following the massive global outage in October 2011. By the start of this year its Index score was as low as plus four in both the US and UK.

The hope was that the launch of the Z10 would arrest that decline and it has had a small impact in the US, where it now stands at plus seven. In April I looked closely at the impact of the Z10 advertising campaign in the UK using a new technique that allowed us to identify people who had been exposed to the advertising, whether or not they recalled it. That revealed that the campaign seemed to have a limited impact on consumers, but where people were exposed to the right ads frequently enough it did have a positive impact.

However, not enough people saw the right ads enough times and the company’s Index score in the UK has barely shifted.

This must partly also be because although BlackBerry was first to market itself as a smartphone brand, other brands such as Apple, Sony and Samsung, have now overtaken and the market is more crowded. Any potential buyer will need to weigh up whether Blackberry still has the ability to cut-through in those circumstances.

Stephan Shakespeare is the chief executive of YouGov

- See more at: Brand Index: Blackberry’s new model failed to stem its brand decline | City A.M.

[OMGitworks]

The SF cited piece does give me some hope they are doing better in enterprise than I think. However, the "meeting with 40 important tech journalists" in America resulted in negative articles (or at least did nothing to get positive press) so let's hope the other bullet points, the actual results of which are unknown, worked better. Fact is that article may think it was a great plan, bu I have to say I think the real world says it was a major fail. Again if they focused on enterprise and can keep or grow that segment, I will be the first to say well done. Right now I am highly skeptical. Time will tell.....

[m1a1mg]

I'd give them credit for Nov 2012 through Feb of 2013. But it ends at that point. I don't know how, other than in some alternate reality, that anyone can state that BB has a positive brand perception currently.

[Superfly_FR]

Sorry to bring reality into the love fest, but here goes:

August 14, 2013, 2:04am

You never stop ... whatever.
Check dates.

Edit: thanks, you did while I was typing. Maybe it'll worse editing previous, a bit ?

[Superfly_FR]

The SF cited piece does give me some hope they are doing better in enterprise than I think. However, the "meeting with 40 important tech journalists" in America resulted in negative articles (or at least did nothing to get positive press) so let's hope the other bullet points, the actual results of which are unknown, worked better. Fact is that article may think it was a great plan, bu I have to say I think the real world says it was a major fail. Again if they focused on enterprise and can keep or grow that segment, I will be the first to say well done. Right now I am highly skeptical. Time will tell.....

Work has been done, in an efficient way. That's all can be extrapolated from this article.
I do not pretend - nor I believe - P.R makes it all. P.R is a piece in the strategy, just one.
I'd like to avoid slipping OT, but I believe I made pretty clear where the problem was IMHO; in one word : late bad sync.

[m1a1mg]

You never stop ... whatever.
Check dates.

Edit: thanks, you did while I was typing. Maybe it'll worse editing previous, a bit ?

I didn't edit a damn thing. The date is Aug of 2013. So what? It shows that BB brand perception is crashing. And this was before they officially put themselves up for sale, further damaging the brand.

[Superfly_FR]

I didn't edit a damn thing. The date is Aug of 2013. So what? It shows that BB brand perception is crashing. And this was before they officially put themselves up for sale, further damaging the brand.

sum up :

under the most difficult, discouraging circumstances imaginable

In June 2012, BlackBerry’s PR department launched ...
[...]
By January 2013, BlackBerry had orchestrated an astonishing turnaround

For engineering this startling transformation ...

Should I explain more ?

[m1a1mg]

Should I explain more ?

Yes. Please explain how you think this to be true. Seriously. I have a great deal of respect for you, but I just can't fathom the selection of the BBRY PR department for an award.

In June of 2012 BB PR wasn't doing anything that I could see. I already agreed that they did well from Nov 2012 to Feb 2013 when there were a lot of positive article written about BB. But since?

And how can their PR push be hugely successful, when the brand they were promoting has crashed?

[cgk]

Yes. Please explain how you think this to be true. Seriously. I have a great deal of respect for you, but I just can't fathom the selection of the BBRY PR department for an award.

In June of 2012 BB PR wasn't doing anything that I could see. I already agreed that they did well from Nov 2012 to Feb 2013 when there were a lot of positive article written about BB. But since?

And how can their PR push be hugely successful, when the brand they were promoting has crashed?

Read the criteria, you write about and enter yourself.

[Roo Zilla]

Palm Pre had great press and reviews too. It didn't help them.

[Superfly_FR]

Yes. Please explain how you think this to be true. Seriously. I have a great deal of respect for you, but I just can't fathom the selection of the BBRY PR department for an award.

In June of 2012 BB PR wasn't doing anything that I could see. I already agreed that they did well from Nov 2012 to Feb 2013 when there were a lot of positive article written about BB. But since?

And how can their PR push be hugely successful, when the brand they were promoting has crashed?

But you don't have to agree with me the bullet list gives mostly metrics about what have been achieved, let's quote out some and keep the facts :

• Two separate media tours in America connected with 40 important tech journalists.
• In Canada from October to December 2012, live regional BlackBerry Z10 demos led to 104 stories and 21.3 million impressions.
• BlackBerry execs’ face-to-face talks with media and influencers at the Consumer Electronics Show generated more than 50 neutral-to-positive stories.
• Virtual and live CEO-led town hall meetings reached 95 percent of BlackBerry employees month after month.
• In January 2013, 750 journalists attended demos of final hardware and software and the launch of the Z10 in six countries, writing 16,000 articles. Globally, 2,000 broadcasts occurred.
• BlackBerry Jam World Tour reached 10,000 app developers, analysts, and journalists in 44 live-event locations in 37 countries, spurring more than 200 media briefings.
• Global news sentiment about BlackBerry was 85 percent positive.

edit : and all the above in 8 months ! (re-edit from 6 to 8 before I get caught )

Of course, if you compare these metrics with all-loved-leaders of any market, then you'll consider there are little.
But that's precisely the point, BlackBerry was killed to death as of June 2012 while leaders have to restrain access to their P.R events and demos. In this situation, being able to set such a plan and reach this metrics is just a dream of success for many, many P.R teams.
(FYI : I've been through 3 major events around Europe Jun 2012/Sep 2012 /Feb.2013 - all sold out, with near to perfect organization. This may be something you've not considered as P.R if you didn't see anything in june 2012)

I believe you mix the current company performance with these date-to-date achievements metrics and performance measurement (85% positive) in the specific area of P.R.

If you mean : "wasn't enough to sell BB10", then my answer is : "no, obviously and unfortunately not".
If you mean "they messed up / did nothing", then my answer is: "ask the P.R pros, with those figures at hand".

[m1a1mg]

OK, out of respect for you I'll stop. I just think, as I stated earlier and reinforced by CGK, that this is a fluff piece written by BB PR department.

And yes, I do believe for a PR plan to be successful, it must change perceptions for more than just a few months.

[blindman40]

Armchair QB time. PR creates hype and manages crisis. Their approach to the release of bb10 was effective in creating hype, but it also led to unrealistic expectations because it was promoted as a game changer when it was more of an equalizer. The management of perceptions that followed was very poor. I won't get into marketing which I believe has been REALLY bad.

[Superfly_FR]

Armchair QB time. PR creates hype and manages crisis. Their approach to the release of bb10 was effective in creating hype, but it also led to unrealistic expectations because it was promoted as a game changer when it was more of an equalizer.

I hear that.

[richardat]

OK, out of respect for you I'll stop. I just think, as I stated earlier and reinforced by CGK, that this is a fluff piece written by BB PR department.
.

If somebody doesn't instantly recognize that, then I don't think there's any hope, but it falls in line with the incredibly demented reasoning demonstrated by the stockberrians....it's sad really. The promotion of a few bullet points which I think by common sense most people would recognize as not being efficacious (if there was any doubt for some - the actual results are now in anyways) is an exercise in vacuous spin of the highest degree: a waste of time and an insult to our intelligence.

To those people: you will never ever understand what some of us on CB, and the vast majority of the real media, analysts, business world, investors are talking about. Just for you: SURE....BB's marketing was fantastic. They did so much, and it was SOOOO effective. :-) The stock - and marketshare - will soon surpass Apple. yay. You're going to be very wealthy. BELIEVE!

[richardat]

Armchair QB time. PR creates hype and manages crisis. Their approach to the release of bb10 was effective in creating hype, but it also led to unrealistic expectations because it was promoted as a game changer when it was more of an equalizer. The management of perceptions that followed was very poor. I won't get into marketing which I believe has been REALLY bad.

There was great hype and excitement leading to the BB10 launch, but I don't believe for 1 second that BB PR had any real impact on that. They could have maintained COMPLETE SILENCE....I mean that...complete silence, and would have gotten just as much - IF NOT MORE - attention at launch. BB was the former Gorilla of the industry, everyone was interested to see what the final hail-Mary would be, and what the much awaited bb10 would deliver. The hype and attention, and even well-wishing was sincere and natural - BB failed to exploit or fuel that after launch - despite getting reviews and sentiment that was very generous.

[Superfly_FR]

If somebody doesn't instantly recognize that, then I don't think there's any hope, but it falls in line with the incredibly demented reasoning demonstrated by the stockberrians....it's sad really. The promotion of a few bullet points which I think by common sense most people would recognize as not being efficacious (if there was any doubt for some - the actual results are now in anyways) is an exercise in vacuous spin of the highest degree: a waste of time and an insult to our intelligence.

To those people: you will never ever understand what some of us on CB, and the vast majority of the real media, analysts, business world, investors are talking about. Just for you: SURE....BB's marketing was fantastic. They did so much, and it was SOOOO effective. :-) The stock - and marketshare - will soon surpass Apple. yay. You're going to be very wealthy. BELIEVE!

There's besides the latest point (can't claim an independant source here) no figures you can't verify by yourself.
Number of attendees, counties visited, number of articles, reviews, podcasts,prints ... all of these are at least verifiable with actual events count or public statistics.

Sure, this might have been issued by BlackBerry's P.R department.
Stating these figures are fluff or lies is just ... incorrect until proven false.

[Otech#CB]

There was great hype and excitement leading to the BB10 launch, but I don't believe for 1 second that BB PR had any real impact on that. They could have maintained COMPLETE SILENCE....I mean that...complete silence, and would have gotten just as much - IF NOT MORE - attention at launch. BB was the former Gorilla of the industry, everyone was interested to see what the final hail-Mary would be, and what the much awaited bb10 would deliver. The hype and attention, and even well-wishing was sincere and natural - BB failed to exploit or fuel that after launch - despite getting reviews and sentiment that was very generous.

What about now? Is it still dead silence? Because the PR article was posted yesterday. And everyone has been talking bad about BlackBerry sinc 2008 lol. So I think that article deserves some recognition. The coming has been pushing. Obviously it's a fluff piece. It's their damn PR team we are talking about. We aren't going to talk down to them unless we want to keep harming BlackBerry's reputation. I know I don't want to do that.

Posted via CB10

[Superfly_FR]

There was great hype and excitement leading to the BB10 launch, but I don't believe for 1 second that BB PR had any real impact on that. They could have maintained COMPLETE SILENCE....I mean that...complete silence, and would have gotten just as much - IF NOT MORE - attention at launch. BB was the former Gorilla of the industry, everyone was interested to see what the final hail-Mary would be, and what the much awaited bb10 would deliver. The hype and attention, and even well-wishing was sincere and natural - BB failed to exploit or fuel that after launch - despite getting reviews and sentiment that was very generous.

Sorry, but I'm 100% against that idea.
As stated, I went to events where at least 50% of attendees were sporting - with no shame - non BlackBerry devices. And I spent time talking with them; what I felt was miles from "anyways I would have been looking at it". Trust me.