BB10 promo van outside work... shambles

I was quite excited to see a BlackBerry promotion van and pop-up stand had appeared outside work yesterday. As I arrived at work all the LCD screens in the display had a "update your mcafee antivirus" popup in them, so I thought I'd visit the stand on my way home instead.

Unfortunately it was all a bit of a shambles. There were 8 BlackBerry promo kids stood in a group shivering and chatting to themselves, not engaging with passersby at all. I had to go up to one guy and say "hi" before I was acknowledged.

He then took me straight into the stand and tried to show me the Z30. When he swiped to unlock somebody had been playing angry birds in landscape mode and he couldn't figure out how to close it, and neither could his colleague. I had to show them.

Then he tried to show me the "flow" by half reciting a bit of spiel he'd been taught, but couldn't actually work out the gesture properly because, as we all know, once you're in the hub you can't repeat the gesture to close the hub again (something which has always annoyed me).

He then tried to show me screen sharing, which failed three times in a row.

I asked if many people had come up to the stall and he said "no not really, it's been quiet, people just see it and think meh it's BlackBerry". I was a bit disappointed in that, it's his JOB afterall to get people interested!

I finally revealed I had a Q10 and showe him my handset, and he asked "does that have BB10 on it?". I also asked him about instagram and he said "yes you can get BlackBerry's version in the app store".

Hmm.

They weren't selling phones there and he did say that on Saturday the same stand was in a local shopping centre and they sold 40 handsets. Which, for 8 assistants, I'm not sure if that's good going or not?

As I left I was given some blackberry goodies - a "mini speaker" to plug into my phone and a credit-card sized blackberry branded usb stick.

Have to say I'm glad to see them setting up stands and promoting BB10 but they need to check all the assistants are approachable and informed.

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Gee, that's too bad they weren't more engaging!
I want free stuff!

Smh nothing worse than having employees with no knowledge of what they are selling. -.-'

BBM channels: c00121c99 for some knowledge and c00123fca for some real hip hop

That's a fail.

Q10 & 9900 on Bell Mobility

That's exactly the kind of employees BlackBerry should be getting rid of.

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That's the 21st century for ya... just give me a cheque and leave me alone

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Unlikely to be employees - more likely to be marketing interns.

But you're right that someone should be making more use of the opportunity

something really stinks with their Point of Purchase.displays too.WTF!!!I'ts almost a year and they can't get it right.Hell it's only money,I guess.As a shareholder I'm disgusted with it all.

They are Def a hired marketing company. I spoke to some reps in toronto. They should pick people from these same forums. Pay them to work at a both for a weekend.
Sign. Me up :)

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Cfoxx thank you for your recounting the series of anecdotes and then concluding gently.

Sign me up, too, for some kind of work, that shall be more convincing and enthusiastic.

Will work.for cases, speakers, USB keys and swag.

It's probably a promotion company they hired to do this and provided all the materials. Still a bad situation, but not as bad if the people were BlackBerry employees or interns. Would be nice to see more knowledge or enthusiasm, but not sure I expect much from a college kid expected to do this in the cold since they probably aren't getting paid much.

Yes, promo company by the look of it. Problem is they do more harm than good.

Originally Posted by mikr009876

Yes, promo company by the look of it. Problem is they do more harm than good.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand how Mr. Frank B can still be a BlackBerry employee. Just killing this brand. Grrrr

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Originally Posted by 2stix

I cannot, for the life of me, understand how Mr. Frank B can still be a BlackBerry employee. Just killing this brand. Grrrr

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BB marketing continues to suck. They need somebody that has actual knowledge.

this is a marketing/advertising agency they hire to do these things.

I've done these types of experiential marketing for Microsoft products... it all depends on the person if they want to do well or not.

They are not paid to sell product, they are paid hourly. There's just a quota of how many consumers they reach. That is all.

when will BlackBerry learn??

Not to say BlackBerry should do better I've come across Sonos reps who know F all about their products too in department stores.

I wonder what those reps use as their daily mobile devices. My bet, not BlackBerry.

BlackBerry are their own biggest enemies.

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