Brainstorm - how should RIM launch BB10?

Hi everyone!

We all know that Apple is king when launching a product! They are able to create such a hype and momentum, leading into a irrational 'applemania' movement ... Even though it is only a object it is elevated to adoration. A bit exaggerated... Almost scared with my own words :p

For sure RIM has a marketing strategy for BB10 in place, but I think it would be fun for us to brainstorm together to find some marketing strategies that could make bb10 awareness hight among consumers.

Bring your imaginatio to this tread... Maybe RIM is reading :cool:

I'm afraid that speculating on how RIM "should" conduct the BB10 launch is beyond my pay grade.

Really, there is a new head of marketing at RIM and I have a feeling that he and his staff know way more about this sort of thing than I do.

RIM is, I'm sure, only too aware that this launch is crucial to the continued existence of the company. I'm equally sure that figuring out the very best way to launch BB10 is the subject of numerous meetings covering strategy.

I think I'll leave RIM's new marketing team to do what they know best how to do.

As soon as possible.

Originally Posted by mcmolineux

As soon as possible.

and as hard as possible

Comes to mind... James Bond teaser commercial flirting with a bb10. :cool:

Q hands over this new 'gadgets to 007 agent (it is the new bb10 ). He looks at it with administration, and walks away with his new gadget on his right hand and reaches with his left hand into his pocket and throws away a 'old' gadget in a spiral movement till it hits a table top (yeah.. Some other smartphone).

He walks up to a high tech security door, passes bb10 by the doors sensor (NFC). Security system greets James Bond while it opens. He walks up to the fantastic Aston Martin, passing again his new gadget by the car door to unlock it. He enters the car, places bb10 phone into a integrated holder and Aston Martin comes to live and so does bb10. At this stage, a show off of all the communication tools available for 007.

He drives away... The end.

Originally Posted by hpjrt

Really, there is a new head of marketing at RIM and I have a feeling that he and his staff know way more about this sort of thing than I do.

I think I'll leave RIM's new marketing team to do what they know best how to do.

I really wouldn't bank on it.

RIM have been so bad at marketing for so long that I'm expecting the BB10 launch to be a non-event for most people. The vast majority of people don't know it is coming (poor marketing) and when it arrives they won't know what it is or why they should have it.

Originally Posted by yorkshireman2

I really wouldn't bank on it.

RIM have been so bad at marketing for so long that I'm expecting the BB10 launch to be a non-event for most people. The vast majority of people don't know it is coming (poor marketing) and when it arrives they won't know what it is or why they should have it.

This was true in the past but there is a new CEO and a new CMO - I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. You really cannot judge RIM now based on the past execs.

Originally Posted by digitalman101

Comes to mind... James Bond teaser commercial flirting with a bb10. :cool:

Q hands over this new 'gadgets to 007 agent (it is the new bb10 ). He looks at it with administration, and walks away with his new gadget on his right hand and reaches with his left hand into his pocket and throws away a 'old' gadget in a spiral movement till it hits a table top (yeah.. Some other smartphone).

He walks up to a high tech security door, passes bb10 by the doors sensor (NFC). Security system greets James Bond while it opens. He walks up to the fantastic Aston Martin, passing again his new gadget by the car door to unlock it. He enters the car, places bb10 phone into a integrated holder and Aston Martin comes to live and so does bb10. At this stage, a show off of all the communication tools available for 007.

He drives away... The end.

James Bond films would only promote Sony products in this manner, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by mcmolineux

James Bond films would only promote Sony products in this manner, unfortunately.

:( I had no clue... Thanks

We still have mission impossible :rolleyes:

I like the secret agent idea. Have said they have to really push the NFC functionality.
Maybe he can walk by a soda pop machine and buy one with his phone too.
Somehow illustrating that Apple or Android phones are old and dated and BB10 is new and state of the art is a great idea.
I would patent/copyright it.:)

Imo they need to be very aggressive they have to go all out with their advertising campaign tv,print billboards .
I can just about count on both hands how many tv ads I've seen by BlackBerry that needs to change they need to open the bank vault and spend on advertising.
As far as ideas I will leave that to the professionals.

Originally Posted by timmy t

I like the secret agent idea. Have said they have to really push the NFC functionality.
Maybe he can walk by a soda pop machine and buy one with his phone too.
Somehow illustrating that Apple or Android phones are old and dated and BB10 is new and state of the art is a great idea.
I would patent/copyright it.:)

'Patent / copyright' :D

That was the idea being in a high tech scenario and in high security environment which bb is known ... Specially target it to iPhone 5 not supporting NFC too. Additionally, QNX is used on cars... So that would explain the integration with Aston Martin.

The soda part... Priceless :rolleyes:

Got an idea: Perhaps RIM they should start plastering towns with ads that just say something like "10 - it's coming" or "10 the next evolution.... and that's it. Get people talking about it and seek to find out what is 10...

What do you think? Like it? Hate it?

Originally Posted by gwanstarr

Got an idea: Perhaps RIM they should start plastering towns with ads that just say something like "10 - it's coming" or "10 the next evolution.... and that's it. Get people talking about it and seek to find out what is 10...

What do you think? Like it? Hate it?

I'd change it to put a month or something like "Coming February 2012". "It's coming" could mean it's coming in 3 years.

Originally Posted by tmelon

I'd change it to put a month or something like "Coming February 2012". "It's coming" could mean it's coming in 3 years.

That's sort of the point - nobody knows when 10 is coming or what 10 is. I think this sort of advertising really sticks. Just before it launches is when the ads come out that shows what 10 is and when 10 is available

I envision having a HUGE billboard in times square on new years eve and having commercials and sideline ads during the super bowl.

Get as much hype before launch and then shortly after the big announcement and to market right away.

"They could make videos for BB10, perhaps an advertisement that showcase BB10, its UI, how to use it, etc. Then have a contest giving away BB10 devices. You take part by liking BlackBerry, sharing that video, and commenting on the BB10's advantages over the competition, and spread the message of this competition. People who do that stand a chance to win BB10 devices. (on facebook, there will be a number showing the amount of "shares", and you can view who shared that video and the comment they posted, so it should be plausible). People will take part in a contest no matter they really like the phone or not. The point is just to get people aware of it, even if they aren't interested in BB in the first place. Perhaps by trying to win a free phone, they will watch the video, and perhaps be genuinely interested in the phone.

This may be a costly way to do it, but it will garner a lot of "sharing" of the video. This way, BlackBerry gets more subscribers on facebook (bigger marketing target audience), and the video can reach other people, even if they don't subscribe to BlackBerry on facebook. This will perhaps get more people interested in BB10, and for RIM to "market" or "educate" the consumers on the new paradigm that BB10 is bringing. As Frank mentioned, part of the marketing is an education process."

I've posted this before in other threads, thought i would post it up again. This is something that Nokia is already doing. They already have a contest for the Lumia 920, just submit why you want to switch to a Lumia 920. Except with BB10, they need to educated consumers about how to use the gestures as well. And video tutorials are simply easier.

Of course your typical print ads, tv ads, youtube ads, etc.

What they probably should do is get pop culture stars to use them and maybe create exclusive content.
Some movie star BBMing to all of his or her followers. Some pop music star BBMing to all of his or her followers. Maybe it can be a recorded video BBM message.
Chicks dig that kind of crap.

I like the Bond commercial, but do it split screen with Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart on an iPhone walking into doors that don't open (no NFC!) and have someone looking like Number 6 from the prisoner or John Steed from the Avengers in the bizarre environments of those shows (for the whacky inconsistent user experience) on Android.

Lots of television advertising. Superbowl ad buy would make sense, but the ad would have to be so good people are all "did you see the blackberry ad!?" the next day. I mean NORMAL people, not gadget nerds.

Also run this ad before big event movies in theatres.... and maybe even have a demo kiosk in the theatre for people to try the device or even book a small screening room in the multiplex for a live demo after the screening.

People need to see it, touch it, experience it... not just hear about it.

...and how about an "ambassador" program for us who will inevitably help market BB10: $5-$20 in App World credit for every referral device activation, from RIM, in addition to carrier referral incentives.

and this.

Originally Posted by lorax1284

I like the Bond commercial, but do it split screen with Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart on an iPhone walking into doors that don't open (no NFC!) and have someone looking like Number 6 from the prisoner or John Steed from the Avengers in the bizarre environments of those shows (for the whacky inconsistent user experience) on Android.

Lots of television advertising. Superbowl ad buy would make sense, but the ad would have to be so good people are all "did you see the blackberry ad!?" the next day. I mean NORMAL people, not gadget nerds.

Also run this ad before big event movies in theatres.... and maybe even have a demo kiosk in the theatre for people to try the device or even book a small screening room in the multiplex for a live demo after the screening.

People need to see it, touch it, experience it... not just hear about it.

...and how about an "ambassador" program for us who will inevitably help market BB10: $5-$20 in App World credit for every referral device activation, from RIM, in addition to carrier referral incentives.

and this.

I like the idea of Steve Carrol walking into doors that don't open.
Maybe have someone with a BB10 device go in first. Have the door open automatically for him after he taps his phone, then have Carrol tap his iPhone and walk into the door assuming it will open.
Have the first guy get a can of Coke by tapping his phone against the machine and then have Carrol try to get one by tapping his iPhone against it.
Can have a series of things the phone can do with NFC that the iPhone cannot. A series of commercials.

They will probably emphasize the fun aspects of the phone - like gaming and social content - and the touch screen swipe capabilites.
That seems to be what everyone is criticizing them for now - not having good gaming capabilities/apps and not having a full touch screen that is good.
They may also emphasize the peak feature for looking at your emails while playing games, if that is possible.

As I mentioned in another posts, there are two kinds of potential BlackBerry customers that BlackBerry needs to attract.

1. The users that migrated from BB to other device
I think most former-users of BlackBerry migrated because BB6/7 started to feel slow, sluggish, outdated with lack of apps. Even when RIM made a new app or feature, the slowness (constant appearance of hourglass, battery pulls) sucked the fun away from it. But these users have already tasted how practical and powerful of a tool BlackBerry can be. The hub/universal inbox, LED light, auto-text and so on. So, for these users, RIM just needs to close the app-gap (make top downloaded apps available at launch) and get the word out there. These users should flock back to BlackBerry like bees to honey!

2. Users that have never tasted the awesome power of a BlackBerry
My opinion is that once you've tasted practicality of a BlackBerry, you'd want it all the time. But yeah, you might not want it at the cost of sacrificing speed and apps. Slow interface can be very frustrating. Enough to make you want to smash your phone and move onto a different platform even if it's somewhat less practical/productive. So, assuming that RIM takes care of those two things (speed/fluidity of user interface and app-availability), RIM just needs to make these new users 'try a BlackBerry'.

I see cable companies always come out with 'get this channel free for 2 months', phone companies come out with 'get 2 months of unlimited calling', Proactive sells their acne cream with free trial, Philips/OralB market their battery operated toothbrush with money back guarantee and so on. So, I guess RIM somehow needs to offer something (free or cheap) that will compel users to give BB a try. Maybe something like Public Mobile does, free subscription to unlimited music channel/streaming for 3 months, 6 months, year, whatever. I think, once you get somebody to try a BlackBerry, I am pretty confident that somebody is not going to leave BlackBerry (as long as most apps are there, and the speed/fluidity of interface is at par with , if not better than, iPhone/Android devices)

Just a suggestion/opinion.

RIM should launch BlackBerry 10 with a truly unique event.
Everyone who attends should be able to use a BlackBerry 10 device, and see how seamless the operating system really is...

How about some blackberry world credit?