[D gray]

Will someone, anyone tell me what did Alicia Keys do for BlackBerry? Was she a spokes person, a magnet or a PR joke. I have heard nothing from her or her camp in reference to BlackBerry. How much was spent for her services. I ask, what did she really do. The last time I saw her here in L.A., she had an IPhone. All I can say, is wow money down the drain.

Posted via CB10

[coolaide]

At her concerts they have big blackberry displays with half naked girls. Lots of people see the bb10 phones for the first time this way.

[adjdudley21]

She just finished a worldwide tour which was sponsored by blackberry... which mean blackberry advertisement was all over every arena and theater she performed in.. which means that thousands of people everyday were mentally exposed to the blackberry brand and got to have a hands on with the brand.. Im also sure she did other functions and events.. Celebrity endorsements don't always mean public appearances or "tweets" its the other things you don't see that matters...

My best friend has a deal with adidas, a very famous athlete... However, you don't see him in every adidas commercial, or in every adidas poster... but he does appearances and other things for adidas that adidas feels increases their brand, which is why they gave him %%million dollars... so yea theres my 2 cents

[amazinglygraceless]

Screenshot...only because I fear the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome that would come from linking the fiftyleven thousand threads about this woman

[Thunderbuck]

What mystifies ME is why she became such a magnet for distain.

I'd call her kind of a "middle-of-the-road" choice as a celebrity figure, and that's a double-edged sword. She's not the highest-of-high profiles, but she didn't bring baggage into the role, either. She is well-respected in the business and generally well-liked, even if she doesn't have quite the same "A-list" sparkle of a Beyonc� or a Lady Gaga.

People also need to understand that given BlackBerry's precarious business situation over the last couple of years, attracting a celebrity figure got harder. There was always the risk of the company tanking, and any potential spokesman could stand to be tarnished by the decline of the brand. That Keys showed as much faith in the brand that she has, and agreed to take a high profile role in the attempt to resurrect the BlackBerry brand, stands to her credit I think.

Where Keys' involvement got to be a problem was that it seemed to be pretty much the ONLY visible marketing for BB10. There were "Keep Moving" projects with other artists like author Neil Gaiman and director Robert Rodriguez, but these didn't seem to reach very far.

Anyway, Keys wasn't the problem.

[TheQuietRioter]

BlackBerry can sponsor my band on a tour any day!!!



Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

What mystifies ME is why she became such a magnet for distain.

I could guess at a few reasons:

• While she is obviously still working, her career isn't exactly anywhere close to its peak. Her biggest time of fame was about 5 years ago. Today, she's a C-list celeb at best (nothing against her, but the music world is very fickle, and most performers don't have very long at/near the top). The point is, why choose a C-list celeb, unless that was the best you could get? It looks bad for BB.
• She is obviously NOT a BB user. While she is apparently obligated to carry a BB around with her, it's just as apparent that the phone she actually USES is an iPhone. Could BB not have chosen an actual BB-by-choice celeb? Especially if they were going C-list anyway?
• Mostly, I think people are concerned that BB has gotten little if any value for their advertising/sponsorship dollars, and certainly almost nothing in the way of brand image, from Keys.

Personally, I would never have recommended BB chose a music star. Music is far too fragmented and polarizing today, so you're almost always going to alienate people with a music talent as your sponsored celeb. They'd have been better off with an actor or an athlete, one who actually has a history of using BBs, IMO.

[richardat]

I could guess at a few reasons:

• While she is obviously still working, her career isn't exactly anywhere close to its peak. Her biggest time of fame was about 5 years ago. Today, she's a C-list celeb at best (nothing against her, but the music world is very fickle, and most performers don't have very long at/near the top). The point is, why choose a C-list celeb, unless that was the best you could get? It looks bad for BB.
• She is obviously NOT a BB user. While she is apparently obligated to carry a BB around with her, it's just as apparent that the phone she actually USES is an iPhone. Could BB not have chosen an actual BB-by-choice celeb? Especially if they were going C-list anyway?
• Mostly, I think people are concerned that BB has gotten little if any value for their advertising/sponsorship dollars, and certainly almost nothing in the way of brand image, from Keys.

Personally, I would never have recommended BB chose a music star. Music is far too fragmented and polarizing today, so you're almost always going to alienate people with a music talent as your sponsored celeb. They'd have been better off with an actor or an athlete, one who actually has a history of using BBs, IMO.

I would add that my critisicm of her from launch on (aside from my general distal. For celebrity worship) is the idiotic: she's an executive... Not a spokesperson/endorser! While it did turn out she wasn't much of a spokesperson - beyond being by far the most articulate and likeable person on stage - it was insulting to any adult that she be acting out this role. As I the professionals bb claims to want as users are going to buy that! You can put a suit on a kangaroo but that doesn't mean he's a criminal lawyer now! Putting scrubs and a stethoscope on Kanye west doesn't mean his iq has surged to 100 and that I think he's lecturing at med school!

At least they seemed to give up on the "Alicia is doing many exec presentations at hq, and right now she's taken charge of the qa team response for bbm!!"

Bottom line: she didn't sell a single phone. She's even with boulben - didn't move a single phone. Most of he cb people moved more phones than both of them combined... Which is to say: at least one.

If your going to do this, pay millions to bieber. He will move a ton of phones to preteen and early term girls and their harangued parents! No questions asked, bugs and problems accepted!