BlackBerry's Biggest Problem Is Not Its Phones - N4BB
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Edit: tried copy and pasting and failed...
Good read!
Here you go.
The world we live in is full of products with incredibly
recognizable brands. Not only are these brands well-
known, they are synonymous with all sorts of positive
feelings and activities in our lives. When you hold a
�Nike� product in your hand, you immediately see
yourself living an active lifestyle. When you see a can
of �Coca-Cola�, its easy for many to imagine how
refreshed they will feel drinking it.
All this doesn�t come for free. These companies
understand that their relatively straightforward (like
sugared water and running shoes) products are much
more valuable to people if they represent a desirable
lifestyle or feeling that everyone wants. The brand of a
company is supposed to convey all this with a single
symbol or name, where it is the responsibility of
company to create and maintain this image.
In BlackBerry�s case,
their brand has lost
much of its value.
Just a month ago,
BlackBerry�s brand
value took a huge
slide off the top 100
list for global brands.
If you believe this
isn�t important to
success, just look at
the list. With Apple
in 1st place, Google
in 2nd, and Samsung
in 8th, its easy to
see a pattern.
These companies
are the ones with
record profits. Even
Sony and Nokia are
sitting in 46 and 57,
respectively.
Branding is
exceptionally
important in the
smartphone industry.
Even HTC, who isn�t
on the list, knows that
marketing their products to strengthen their brand is key
to succeeding in the smartphone industry. The result of
HTC�s previous lack of focus on marketing is that they
are finding it difficult to generate a profit, yet they
make great smartphones!
Go figure. The newly released BlackBerry Z30
smartphone is another fine example of a modern
smartphone. It�s got the 5″ screen, great design, HD
display, decent cpu, solid OS, a (decent) selection of
apps, and all that. The Z30 is practically the same as
a Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, Moto X, LG G2, Sony
Xperia Z etc., technically at least. The list goes on.
They are all excellent smartphones as well.
Show the average consumer these phones and there
aren�t many technical differences they can name that
actually matter in the experience. What consumers will
think is that the Z30 is a BlackBerry (and thus isn�t the
latest and greatest), the S4 is by Samsung (and is the
next big thing), the HTC One looks nice (but isn�t too
popular), the G2 looks the same as the S4 (and they
make appliances), and the Xperia Z (and Sony stuff is
usually good). If they�re looking at the iPhone, they
know its by Apple (and has all these neat apps).
Despite the innumerable technical variations between
the products, the lack of practical differences between
smartphones that consumers can understand creates a
situation where the perception of the brand is of utmost
important (think Coca-Cola). BlackBerry is at risk at
becoming a victim of the commoditization of
smartphones, where branding and perception
dominate the marketplace.
Personally, I�m a huge
and proud fan of
BlackBerry products.
I believe, without a
doubt, that the
software and
hardware engineers
who develop
BlackBerry products
are world-class
employees who
accomplish amazing
things. Even Google
and Apple recognize
this. I have had the
pleasure of meeting
many of these
incredible people
and the amount of
respect I hold for
them is considerable.
In addition, the
philosophy behind
BlackBerry products is
something that
resonates with me
and many that I know
who choose BlackBerry.
People don�t understand 256-bit AES encryption.
They don�t understand an Adreno 320 GPU. They
don�t understand what makes a good smartphone
camera. And I don�t blame them. In the world we live
in, smartphones are first and foremost consumer
products.
But I�m calling it like it is. And while I�m aware of the
size of the challenges the company faces, it is the
responsibility of the management to do their technical
ability justice and match it with marketing of equal
caliber. It would be a shame to have it otherwise.
BlackBerry�s brand is damaged because of their
inability to properly communicate with consumers, who
became their most important customers. The issue is
their lack of effective marketing to repair the negative
perception of their brand. With young teens and
adults dictating the market trends, asking any young
person about BlackBerry and you�re bound to find
evidence of their negative perception. With their
Samsung Galaxy S3s and iPhones, they see BlackBerry
as a finished company making QWERTY smartphones
to old people. While its far from the truth, BlackBerry
isn�t effectively telling them otherwise.
With all due respect,
the marketing that
BlackBerry is trying
to do is not working.
I am glad that their
marketing efforts are
better than they
were before the
appointment of their
chief marketing
officer. Then again, it wasn�t hard to improve. This
should not be business-as-usual marketing. This should
be damage-control and rebuilding-the-brand kind of
marketing.
People don�t understand �Keep Moving� and they sure
don�t understand what a phone doesn�t do. The
message is confusing. As a result, people still don�t
understand what a new BlackBerry stands for and they
can�t see that amazing lifestyle in the Z10, Q10, Q5
or Z30. They need a Morgan Freeman-narrated ad
showing a vision of the ideal happy life with a song like
this in the background. Putting pets in never hurts
either. BlackBerry needs to connect the dots so that
the BlackBerry brand represents a happy and social
life, not some guy with no friends with elephant feet
who climbs out of a sewer.
The solution isn�t a walk in the park. Honestly,
BlackBerry�s management has one of the toughest jobs
in the world in my opinion. The difficulty becomes
clear when you consider they have to execute a
global brand turnaround while competing with the top
two brands in the world, each over 30 times their size.
Apple and Samsung spend hundreds of millions on
marketing, while BlackBerry isn�t even close to being
in the same league. Without the kind of cash to keep
up with the Joneses, it is very hard to engage enough
consumers effectively.
Even though the better app selection on Android and
iOS does have a little sway, the biggest issue for
BlackBerry is not the tech specs, smartphone design,
the apps, or the operating system. They have that
under control. What really sells smartphones, which are
very personal consumer commodities, is perception of
the brand and effective marketing to consumers. If
BlackBerry wants to stay valid in the consumer market,
they have to transition from the business-facing
technology company to a consumer electronics
company with a large focus on selling their vision to
everyday people. I for one want to see BlackBerry
remain strong in the consumer space so I can
continue to carry a smartphone that stands for the
values that are important to me.
Nice article! Nothing new here, but recapping this specific point about brand perception is definitely a good way to clearly communicate what's happening with BlackBerry.
Posted via CB10 on my Z30
The basic assumption of this article is that BB touch phones are as good as any other modern smartphone. That is a shaky premise.
No it's not shaky at all - but it's all down to personal preference.
Posted from my Z10 baby!
Someone posted it earlier today :)
http://forums.crackberry.com/armchai...rticle-866642/