Waterloo, Ontario sits about an hour West of my place in downtown Toronto.
Waterloo is home to a company called RIM, or Research In Motion. Otherwise known as the Blackberry guys.
RIM is an ensemble of genius types, no question.
RIM’s reigning co-CEO’s Jim and Mike could out-MacGyver even MacGyver himself.
These guys were the original purveyors of the smart phone. Redefining the frontiers of technological advancement for years now. Visionaries. Rocket-scientists. Dreamers. All that stuff.
You have to respect that.
Which makes it all the more painful to see them struggling with something as simple as their marketing.
Marketing is about finding ways to deliver overwhelming value to people who have access to spendable money. Telling compelling stories. Connecting emotional dots.
Here is the 2-step marketing plan that can save RIM:
Step 1: Stop trying to beat Apple at it’s own game.
Blackberries are not cool. Not at a root level. Blackberries are very serious. Or more specifically, amazingly secure.
They offer remarkable, industry-leading email encryption capabilities that make Apple code-breakers cry themselves to sleep. No cautious Fortune 500 director would dare check his private email account on anything but a Blackberry because of it.
Blackberries are serious. That is not a weakness, it’s a strength.
RIM had enormous opportunities to leverage Obama's Blackberry obsession. Yet they did nothing. Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP
Even the leader of the free world wasn’t inclined to use anything but a RIM product, and was proud enough to declare his fondness to the rest of the world during his pre-inaugaration into the Oval Office.
The New York Times printed these remarkably quotable lines back in January ’09:
“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”
Of all the fights facing Mr. Obama as he prepares for the White House, one of the most maddening for him is the prospect of losing the BlackBerry that has been attached to his belt for years. It is, he has vigorously argued, an essential link to keeping him apprised of events outside his ever-tightening cocoon.”
And yet, did you ever see RIM try to capitalize on that? Did you ever see them attempt to pound home the fact that the soon-to-be most important and powerful man on the planet insists on using their device? I sure didn’t even hear a whisper from the RIM folks. And neither did you.
And it gets worse: According to The Toronto Star,“RIM already counts the U.S. government as its single largest customer and has had its technology vetted for use by a broad range of departments, including the FBI, Department of Defence, Congress and the White House.”
That’s pretty darn amazing, too. And yet the myopic marketing minds out of Waterloo are oblivious to the potential of those kinds of stories.
Absolutely crazy.
Instead, the “smart” marketing guys as RIM thought it would be better to try and play catch-up with the cool kids over at Apple, and try to out-Apple the Cupertino Cool Trust.
That’s like trying to out-cool Steve McQueen.
Talk about branding suicide.
Case in point: RIM’s latest obsolete campaign focused on BBM’ing as the next best thing. Here’s one of the videos that was released to show how awesome it is:
In case you missed it, let me break it down for you:
RIM’s “revolutionary” new BBM feature allows the following:
1. You can text your friends.
Umm, yeah you can do that on any other phone, too.
2. You can send videos and photos as rich SMS messages to your friends.
Umm, yeah, also old news.
3. You can “update” your profile on an ongoing basis.
Yeah, a guy called Mark Zuckerberg has been all over that for a while now. His toy is called Facebook. We already have one of those.
4. You can tell if someone has “read” your message.
Who said that’s something I want you to be able to do?
That’s the whole BBM story. Another foolish waste of millions and millions of development and advertising dollars, in a feeble attempt to be fresh and new while somehow not noticing that your peddling last year’s fashions.*
Not cool.
(*Don’t even get me started on RIM’s useless new “Playbook”. Such a massive allocation of intellectual resources and precious capital to create something so boring and undesirable. The only noteworthy feature about the new RIM Playbook is that it can play flash, and yet that benefit is not emphasized very much.)
Come on RIM, we expect more from you.
The market is speaking, and you need to sit up and listen.
RIM is missing projected revenue targets. They’re shrinking their promises about future earnings. They’re “reducing the headcount”. And they’re vaporizing billions of dollars of market cap with their schizophrenic marketing madness.
But it’s not too late.
The truth is, all this obsession with coolness is unnecessary.
Fixing it is simple:
Step 2: Rig the game back in your favor.
Apple has been trying to convince everyone for years now that the most important thing about smartphones is fun-ness. And for the most part, they’ve been pretty good at convincing us.
So-called experts love to quote public polls indicating that people want fun smart-phones, suggesting a massive market shift. Apple has manufactured that shift.
In response, RIM has just rolled over and said “Okay, Apple, I guess you’re right. Fun-ness is number one.”
Snap out of it, Waterloo people. Put down the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid for a minute, and think.
Who says that California Steve gets to make the rules?
Why not call for a brand-new (but actually a return to the old) set of rules?
What if you took a completely different position from Apple? What if you had the guts to make Apple products, Android products, Samsung products, and all other non-RIM products look childish and silly, in comparison to the serious, grown-up RIM stuff?
What if RIM launched a campaign that declared:
“Toys are for kids.
Blackberries are for business.”
What would happen if RIM took it’s strengths and made them even stronger? RIM currently has a stranglehold on email encryption technology. What if they obsessed over making it even more airtight and impregnable?
What if they started collecting stories of Wall Street M & A’s that hinged on 100% secure, private communication? What if they introduced some of Blackberries biggest fans to the business world, and let them talk about why they demand their entire corporate staff to use only RIM devices, and share a horror story or two of what happened when someone broke protocol?
Remember all that stuff about how the US Congress, the FBI, the US Defense Department, and the White House all have pre-vetted the Blackberry suite of products for use by their staff? Tell those stories, and show those powerful visuals. That stuff is gold! Make seriousness matter again.
Talk about the economic recovery of America. These are serious times. Think of yourself for a minute. As a small business owner, you need to be serious about business stuff. Forge an emotional connection to the struggling business person. Tell some real-life stories about the importance of discretion and security in successful business transactions. Talk about how essential it is to get the business stuff right.
And then find more ways to strengthen the business end of the Blackberry experience.
Show in very concrete terms that Blackberries are for business people. Gather some stats on Fortune 500 usage, and if the numbers are in RIM’s favor, shout them from the rooftops.
And why not introduce a new suite of super-titanium-secure-encryption for enterprise customers to take advantage of? Deliver massively-higher levels of security, and charge accordingly.
In short, what if RIM rigged the game back in their favor?
Let me repeat the marketing campaign that can save RIM:
“Toys are for kids.
Blackberries are for business.”
Re-establish RIM products as absolutely incomparable business tools.
Change the rules of the game.
It’s not too late, Mike and Jim. But I’d recommend starting today.
Kevin
P.S. If you know someone at RIM, then please do them a favor and forward this article to them. They need all the help they can get right now.
If you’d like me to help you with your marketing challenges, let’s talk. I’ll be happy to give you 15 minutes of my time to see if maybe we’re a good fit to work together. First, though, here’s a quick overview of what I can for you.
P.S.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.
If you liked this post, you’ll probably like these, too:
The 2-step Marketing Plan That Can Save Research In Motion (RIM)
Posted by Kevin Dubrosky
Waterloo, Ontario sits about an hour West of my place in downtown Toronto.
Waterloo is home to a company called RIM, or Research In Motion. Otherwise known as the Blackberry guys.
RIM is an ensemble of genius types, no question.
RIM’s reigning co-CEO’s Jim and Mike could out-MacGyver even MacGyver himself.
These guys were the original purveyors of the smart phone. Redefining the frontiers of technological advancement for years now. Visionaries. Rocket-scientists. Dreamers. All that stuff.
You have to respect that.
Which makes it all the more painful to see them struggling with something as simple as their marketing.
Marketing is about finding ways to deliver overwhelming value to people who have access to spendable money. Telling compelling stories. Connecting emotional dots.
In these crucial areas, RIM has lost it’s way.
And of course, RIM’s shareholders are paying for it.
Here is the 2-step marketing plan that can save RIM:
Step 1: Stop trying to beat Apple at it’s own game.
Blackberries are not cool. Not at a root level. Blackberries are very serious. Or more specifically, amazingly secure.
They offer remarkable, industry-leading email encryption capabilities that make Apple code-breakers cry themselves to sleep. No cautious Fortune 500 director would dare check his private email account on anything but a Blackberry because of it.
Blackberries are serious. That is not a weakness, it’s a strength.
RIM had enormous opportunities to leverage Obama's Blackberry obsession. Yet they did nothing. Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP
Even the leader of the free world wasn’t inclined to use anything but a RIM product, and was proud enough to declare his fondness to the rest of the world during his pre-inaugaration into the Oval Office.
The New York Times printed these remarkably quotable lines back in January ’09:
“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”
Of all the fights facing Mr. Obama as he prepares for the White House, one of the most maddening for him is the prospect of losing the BlackBerry that has been attached to his belt for years. It is, he has vigorously argued, an essential link to keeping him apprised of events outside his ever-tightening cocoon.”
And yet, did you ever see RIM try to capitalize on that? Did you ever see them attempt to pound home the fact that the soon-to-be most important and powerful man on the planet insists on using their device? I sure didn’t even hear a whisper from the RIM folks. And neither did you.
And it gets worse: According to The Toronto Star, “RIM already counts the U.S. government as its single largest customer and has had its technology vetted for use by a broad range of departments, including the FBI, Department of Defence, Congress and the White House.”
That’s pretty darn amazing, too. And yet the myopic marketing minds out of Waterloo are oblivious to the potential of those kinds of stories.
Absolutely crazy.
Instead, the “smart” marketing guys as RIM thought it would be better to try and play catch-up with the cool kids over at Apple, and try to out-Apple the Cupertino Cool Trust.
That’s like trying to out-cool Steve McQueen.
Talk about branding suicide.
Case in point: RIM’s latest obsolete campaign focused on BBM’ing as the next best thing. Here’s one of the videos that was released to show how awesome it is:
RIM’s “revolutionary” new BBM feature allows the following:
1. You can text your friends.
Umm, yeah you can do that on any other phone, too.
2. You can send videos and photos as rich SMS messages to your friends.
Umm, yeah, also old news.
3. You can “update” your profile on an ongoing basis.
Yeah, a guy called Mark Zuckerberg has been all over that for a while now. His toy is called Facebook. We already have one of those.
4. You can tell if someone has “read” your message.
Who said that’s something I want you to be able to do?
That’s the whole BBM story. Another foolish waste of millions and millions of development and advertising dollars, in a feeble attempt to be fresh and new while somehow not noticing that your peddling last year’s fashions.*
Not cool.
(*Don’t even get me started on RIM’s useless new “Playbook”. Such a massive allocation of intellectual resources and precious capital to create something so boring and undesirable. The only noteworthy feature about the new RIM Playbook is that it can play flash, and yet that benefit is not emphasized very much.)
Come on RIM, we expect more from you.
The market is speaking, and you need to sit up and listen.
RIM is missing projected revenue targets. They’re shrinking their promises about future earnings. They’re “reducing the headcount”. And they’re vaporizing billions of dollars of market cap with their schizophrenic marketing madness.
But it’s not too late.
The truth is, all this obsession with coolness is unnecessary.
Fixing it is simple:
Step 2: Rig the game back in your favor.
Apple has been trying to convince everyone for years now that the most important thing about smartphones is fun-ness. And for the most part, they’ve been pretty good at convincing us.
So-called experts love to quote public polls indicating that people want fun smart-phones, suggesting a massive market shift. Apple has manufactured that shift.
In response, RIM has just rolled over and said “Okay, Apple, I guess you’re right. Fun-ness is number one.”
Snap out of it, Waterloo people. Put down the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid for a minute, and think.
Who says that California Steve gets to make the rules?
Why not call for a brand-new (but actually a return to the old) set of rules?
What if you took a completely different position from Apple? What if you had the guts to make Apple products, Android products, Samsung products, and all other non-RIM products look childish and silly, in comparison to the serious, grown-up RIM stuff?
What if RIM launched a campaign that declared:
“Toys are for kids.
Blackberries are for business.”
What would happen if RIM took it’s strengths and made them even stronger? RIM currently has a stranglehold on email encryption technology. What if they obsessed over making it even more airtight and impregnable?
What if they started collecting stories of Wall Street M & A’s that hinged on 100% secure, private communication? What if they introduced some of Blackberries biggest fans to the business world, and let them talk about why they demand their entire corporate staff to use only RIM devices, and share a horror story or two of what happened when someone broke protocol?
Remember all that stuff about how the US Congress, the FBI, the US Defense Department, and the White House all have pre-vetted the Blackberry suite of products for use by their staff? Tell those stories, and show those powerful visuals. That stuff is gold! Make seriousness matter again.
Talk about the economic recovery of America. These are serious times. Think of yourself for a minute. As a small business owner, you need to be serious about business stuff. Forge an emotional connection to the struggling business person. Tell some real-life stories about the importance of discretion and security in successful business transactions. Talk about how essential it is to get the business stuff right.
And then find more ways to strengthen the business end of the Blackberry experience.
Show in very concrete terms that Blackberries are for business people. Gather some stats on Fortune 500 usage, and if the numbers are in RIM’s favor, shout them from the rooftops.
And why not introduce a new suite of super-titanium-secure-encryption for enterprise customers to take advantage of? Deliver massively-higher levels of security, and charge accordingly.
In short, what if RIM rigged the game back in their favor?
Let me repeat the marketing campaign that can save RIM:
“Toys are for kids.
Blackberries are for business.”
Re-establish RIM products as absolutely incomparable business tools.
Change the rules of the game.
It’s not too late, Mike and Jim. But I’d recommend starting today.
Kevin
P.S. If you know someone at RIM, then please do them a favor and forward this article to them. They need all the help they can get right now.
If you’d like me to help you with your marketing challenges, let’s talk. I’ll be happy to give you 15 minutes of my time to see if maybe we’re a good fit to work together. First, though, here’s a quick overview of what I can for you.
P.S.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.
If you liked this post, you’ll probably like these, too: