Innovate or die. That’s a phrase you only want to hear when you’re the leader of the pack, or if you have a plan and path to take the market by storm. That’s not the case with Research in Motion (RIM), known by many as the smartphone maker, Blackberry. The former leader of the smartphone market lost and continues to lose in the battle against Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, and the situation isn’t getting any better. To counter an endless downfall, RIM has launched a new advertising campaign to remind users why they should stick with or consider a Blackberry. Titled “Be Bold,” the marketing push falls short on attracting new customers.
It’s hard to believe that Blackberry is even in the consideration set for consumers unless they already own a Blackberry. Looking back at their successes, Blackberry used to be the best smartphone to handle work email, contacts and calendars. Everything just worked using Blackberry’s servers, but the outages in the past few years have significantly hurt the company’s reputation. Before the iPhone, and even up to at least 18-months after it’s launch in 2007, Blackberry was king of the hill. But they stood still, which is where the phrase innovate or die chimes in. That’s another story for another time.
The new “Be Bold” campaign is targeted to the doer’s in society; those that want to focus on the task at hand. The commercial focuses on Blackberry Messenger, which now competes with Apple’s iMessage and other third party apps. It no longer has a competitive advantage. The commercial’s stars boldly claim, “We need tools, not toys.” and “I’m about action, not distraction.” That message would work if it were five years ago when apps was short for appetizers and they didn’t make smartphones smarter. That’s not the case anymore.
One thing that Blackberry doesn’t have is a strong, third party developer community. Unless there’s a big shakeup at RIM, developers will still flock to iOS, Android and even Windows Phone 7. Having worked closely – as I still do – with developers, RIM is an afterthought; there isn’t demand and their software development kit (SDK) is lacking when compared with the competition.
To shake things up at Blackberry, there needs to be a changing of the guard. They just had one, but the new CEO was an internal appointment, which is far from what they need.
Take a look at the new commercial. Do you think it makes a strong case for someone to consider Blackberry if they’re looking for a new smartphone?
