Marketing seems to be the new mantra at Blackberry, as the Canadian firm is all set to spend a sizeable chunk of cash in promotion and advertising to generate maximum publicity around its newly launched (in the US) flagship phone, the Z10. Described as “real-time marketing” by the company’s chief marketing officer Frank Boulben, the company is looking at innovative marketing to get the general public aware of the phone’s features. “March Madness” has been theme of the company’s strategy this month and saw the airing of regular commercials on popular television networks, which is expected to go into overdrive this last week of March.
Sticking to the plan, which Boulben calls the greatest comeback in the tech industry, will require a lot more than just television-based advertising. He and his team have worked with ad agency BBDO and many other digital agencies specializing in advertising tactics and narrowed down to a tactic better known as the “takeover”. A concept that was piloted at the Guardian in United Kingdom will also be applied at the New York Times in the US.
So called “takeovers” are designed to swarm a user’s display with ads. The New York Times takeover, for example, will see Blackberry ads take over the newspaper’s Facebook page, Twitter feed and website as well. This means that a sizeable majority of users who access the New York Times on Android or iOS will see ads extolling the Z10’s features. This strategy comes at a crucial time, as latest statistics have revealed that the Z10 doesn’t even feature in the Top 100 Bestsellers list on Amazon, outranked by older devices like the Blackberry Torch and Curve.
The company has already come to terms with the fact that it is not possible to survive in a market with mere faithful followers, who are known to make up the company’s current global market share of 5.9%. Boulben is bullish that this new strategy would help in roping back customers who have switched to another platform. Boulben’s biggest challenge will be convincing users who are not at all familiar with the platform. He is confident that several iOS and Android users will be willing to make a shift after this proposed marketing campaign is set in motion.
