How would you market BB10?

We all know than RIM need to market BB10 well if they want to survive the next year. So I was thinking about how they're going to market BB10 and the new smartphones. The advertisements for the PlayBook left a lot to be desired, because it didn't really hit the key points for me. For BB10 I'd love to see a very simple advert with a touchscreen BB and keyboard BB side by side, going through the great features that BB10 will hopefully bring;

+ A wealth of apps (via Android Player) - with focus on the current bestseller (2012's equivalent of Angry Birds)
+ Video calling (if BB10 doesn't have this, RIM might as well pack up)
+ 4G connectivity (will they beat Apple to market with this?)
+ Full web experience with the fastest browser on the market
+ Great games, like Need For Speed, running on a smartphone

The advert should, in my opinion, highlight everything that people love about the iPhone, but go on to say "and here's how we do it better", with the option of touch screen and full physical keyboard.

The slogan to cap it off? "Anything 'i' can do, we can do better".

What would you put in a BB10 commercial?

haha i like the last part

'Properly'
'Not like earlier phones'

Originally Posted by cfoxx

+ A wealth of apps (via Android Player) - with focus on the current bestseller (2012's equivalent of Angry Birds)
+ Video calling (if BB10 doesn't have this, RIM might as well pack up)
+ 4G connectivity (will they beat Apple to market with this?)
+ Full web experience with the fastest browser on the market
+ Great games, like Need For Speed, running on a smartphone

This is a dead end. So what will differentiate these features with the next two generations of Android phones? Except that BB10 is going to have two fewer cores and not actually running android apps natively?

RIM is no longer a credible competitor to Apple. Right now they are approaching irrelevance even in the race for "Apple-alternative". They have to think about beating the next Samsung, HTC and Motorola first. If Microsoft somehow succeeds w/ Mobile 8, then RIM will lose the "third OS" race as well.

I don't think the general public really care about how many cores a smartphone has. This is exactly the sort of trap PC manufacturers fall into with their advertising. What does "dual core i5 intel processor" actually mean to the end consumer? Nothing. "twice as many CPU cycles"? Meaningless. "Our fastest ever Mac" - that's all I need to know, and that's where Apple get it consistently right.


When I worked in sales, I was always told "sell the benefits, not the features", and the same should apply to RIM's next generation smartphones.

The number of cores is irrelevant if RIM can promise "our fastest ever smartphone with lightning fast 4G internet".

Originally Posted by cfoxx

I don't think the general public really care about how many cores a smartphone has. This is exactly the sort of trap PC manufacturers fall into with their advertising. What does "dual core i5 intel processor" actually mean to the end consumer? Nothing. "twice as many CPU cycles"? Meaningless. "Our fastest ever Mac" - that's all I need to know, and that's where Apple get it consistently right.


When I worked in sales, I was always told "sell the benefits, not the features", and the same should apply to RIM's next generation smartphones.

The number of cores is irrelevant if RIM can promise "our fastest ever smartphone with lightning fast 4G internet".

Blackberry already has a reputation for subpar specs. What's it going to mean to the average consumer to say "RIM's fastest phone".

What's your counter going to be when Samsung, HTC or Motorola comes out with "the fastest smartphone IN THE WORLD (which by the way doesn't need a player to run our apps)"

Originally Posted by loneweasel

Blackberry already has a reputation for subpar specs. What's it going to mean to the average consumer to say "RIM's fastest phone".

No, BlackBerry are known for "slow phones that crash all the time", the general public don't know anything about the specs. Apple never advertised their phones as having a 1ghz processor, they advertised it as "the fastest iPhone yet with the new A4 chip". There are lessons to be learned here. "500mhz" means nothing to a majority of customers. "Lightning fast and doesn't crash" means a LOT more.

Originally Posted by loneweasel

What's your counter going to be when Samsung, HTC or Motorola comes out with "the fastest smartphone IN THE WORLD (which by the way doesn't need a player to run our apps)"

Again, the public don't KNOW or CARE about what happens 'behind the scenes.' The general consumer will have no idea that BB10 is emulating Android apps, they will appear in the appstore and it will be a seamless experience. BlackBerry can boast thousands of useful apps and games in its store and the public won't be any the wiser - or any worse off.

In terms of speed, you can buy the fastest car in the world but when are you ever allowed to crank the engine up to the max? There are limits to what people need or want from a smartphone, and whilst the current range of handsets are severely lacking, the PlayBook is actually a great piece of kit which, if release in February as a smartphone, would be top of the range and certainly fast enough to play HD video, output HD games, browse the web...

Obviously they're going to have to point out the benefits for consumers to purchase a BB10 device over iPhone or Android, but what exactly will those benefits be? I'm genuinely curious. I mean, in a market dominated by apps, I don't think having non-native apps will be a benefit over competitors. I would imagine that a consumer wouldn't see an advantage to this and actually assess it as a reason to use Android instead.

We all know the benefits of iOS over Android and vice versa, but I don't know what the benefits of BB10 will be over the two. I imagine security will be a benefit, but I'm speaking in terms of the general consumer.

Obviously RIM will need a good hook to get people to notice these phones. Maybe they should start with the keyboard, since that is what differentiates them from the rest. If RIM makes it excellent and make it do things it hasn't done before (maybe the keys could be touch sensitive so that Swype can be used?...I don't know...) then you'll have yourself a technical hook that is different from the rest.

These new phones also need to make an emotional connection somehow. Apparently BBs sell well in countries we never think of...maybe show an ad on how global BBs are, from the laborer in the dankest and darkest corner of the Rain forest to the executive in Trump Tower? Maybe show them all BBM-ing each other!

I think they should show off the multi-tasking capabilities if hopefully* its just like the playbook, showcase that all your open webpages are currently running as you switch back and forth between sites.

In the commercial two people should be sitting next to eachother the non-blackberry user should brag about how quick his web browsing is loading, the Blackberry user should show him his is not only faster but he's got like, 5 of them loaded instantly, and all the media is running smoothly on each page. Then he gets interrupted by a phone call, that he takes on speaker and he continues to browse his webpages while talking on the phone. Then they should air this during the super bowl. LoL

I want to add that I just watched the newest podcast and ita with Kevin when he said that they need to try the marketing approach using celebs, this is what sways people, this is why checking out at stores we're bombarded with the US weeklys the In Touch and OK mags, people care about what celebrities are doing, wearing, saying, dating, USING, and the reality of it is 95% of them are all using Blackberries, because they live from their phones, they are in and out of appointments all day, and the BB is the #1 communication tool for that. I'm willing to bet that more than a few of them would be happy to be part of some sort of BB campaign.

What I would really love to see would be comedic actors, or perhaps something involving Funny or Die, people eat this stuff up. OR... do two major commercials one for the guys, one for the girls, 5 hot female and 5 hot guy celebs all BBM'ing eachother, show them on-set, tweeting, on the red carpet, partying, coming out of restaurants, stepping out of cars, being paparazzi'ed all with their trusty Blackberries in hand.:cool:

Step 1. Change the name from BB10.
Step 2 - N. ?

Originally Posted by cfoxx

+ A wealth of apps (via Android Player) - with focus on the current bestseller (2012's equivalent of Angry Birds)

Seriously, the Android Player needs to be tossed out the window and focus on native QNX applications. If you want to play Angry Birds buy an Android device. The Android Player says to me that Research In Motion does not believe in their own tablet operating system. Failure.

Pretty much lie and call it the "best phone yet" every damn time. Apple does that, and ironically im biting the bait.

Originally Posted by tkwolf

Pretty much lie and call it the "best phone yet" every damn time. Apple does that, and ironically im biting the bait.

just goes to show, anyone can succumb to advertising.

Originally Posted by deRusett

just goes to show, anyone can succumb to advertising.

I, myself never thought that I would ever consider getting an iPhone. I've always known that I'm the keyboard kinda guy. I'll see how this works out for me.