BY
R I Z WA N
DHANESH
P R AT H A M E S H
OBJECTIVES
 Company background
 BlackBerry – The Product-History
 Marketing Mix
 Marketing Strategy of BlackBerry
 Competitor Analysis
 BCG & SWOT Analysis
 Success Factors
 References
 Conclusion
Company background
 Name :
 Industries served :
 Geographic areas:
 Headquarters :
 Current CEO :
 Revenue :
 Profit :
 Employees :
 Main Competitors :

Research In Motion BlackBerry
Telecommunications equipment
Worldwide
Canada
Thorsten Heins
$ 18.435 billion (2012)
$ 1.164 billion (2012)
12,700 (2013)
Apple Inc., Nokia, Samsung
BlackBerry – The Product-History
 BlackBerry is a line of wireless handheld device developed by







the Canadian company, Research In Motion (RIM).
1999 – RIM introduced as a two-way Pager.
2003 - In 2003, the more commonly known smartphone
BlackBerry was released, which supports push email, mobile
telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing, Web browsing and
other wireless information services.
BlackBerry gained market share in the mobile industry by
concentrating on email.
All newer models have been optimized for "thumbing", the use
of only the thumbs to type on a keyboard.
BlackBerry – The Product-History
 The track wheel was replaced by the trackball with the

introduction of the Pearl series which allowed 4-way scrolling.
 The trackball was replaced by the optical trackpad with the

introduction of the Curve 8500 series.
 BlackBerry PIN is an eight

character hexadecimal identification number assigned to each
BlackBerry device. PINs cannot be changed and are locked to
each handset device.
BlackBerry – The Product-History
 BlackBerrys can message each other using the PIN directly or by

using the Blackberry Messenger application-BBM.
 On January 30, 2013, BlackBerry announced the release of the

Z10 and Q10 smart phones.
 Both models consist of touch screens: the Z10 features an all-

touch design and the Q10 combines a QWERTY keyboard with
touch screen features.
Marketing Mix- Product
• RIM’s most notable product is easily a “Blackberry”.
• It has long been known as the phone with email access on

the go, with security that has been difficult to match for its
competitors.
• Also, the BBM service is its core competence as well as a
differentiating factor from other smart phones available in
the market.
• Main features that a BlackBerry smart phone offers are:
1. Push Email 2. Instant messaging features (BBM)
3. Mobile Telephone 4. Text messaging
5. Internet Faxing 6. Web browsing
7. Multi-touch interface
Marketing Strategy of BlackBerry
Objective:
 To create awareness about the BlackBerry brand in the youth

market segment.
 Positioning Blackberry as the „Smartphone‟ of choice for the
youth and young professionals.
 Highlight BlackBerry‟s beyond email capabilities.
Marketing Mix-Target Market Segment
 Segment method : 1. Occupation
 Business professionals
 Quickly access sales, product and organizational data in any






database
Remove the requirement to be near a desktop to view critical data
Support decision-making with automatic alerts and automatically
refreshed data
Provide at-a-glance performance monitoring for accelerated
action and decision making
Be willing to pay more for the newest products that provide the
function they need
Marketing Mix-Target Market Segment
 2. behavior segmentation
 Innovators : Successful, take charge people, High self-esteem,





Change leaders, Very active consumers
Pursue the most fashionable products with advanced technology
Like the fashionable design
Like to purchase the products of leading brand
Be willing to pay more for the newest products






3. Income
Above 30,000/Month
Purchase the expensive personal products
Pursue the fashion products
Marketing Mix-Target Market Segment
Blackberry provides
the solution to target
market combined with
the business
professional,
innovators and high
income segments.
Marketing Mix-Target Market Segment
Positioning :
 The place a product occupies in consumers’ minds
relative to competing products.
 Blackberry is a smart phone that ensures consumers to
receive all kind of information instantly, and be able to
browse the Web, make or receive phone calls, organize
the day and much more.
 “To busy mobile professionals who need to always be
in the loop, Blackberry is a wireless connectivity
solution that allows you to stay connected to people and
resources while on the go more easily and reliably than
the competing technologies.”
Marketing Strategy of BlackBerry
Introduce BlackBerry,
for the new market
segment

Brand personality

BlackBerry Appeal

• 18-24 years
• Tier I cities
• Youth and young
professionals
•
•
•
•
•

lifestyle;
imagination;
innovation;
dreams and aspirations;
power-to-the-people
through technology.
• All the features of the
parent brand
• Classic in look and
display.
• Available in youthful
colors.
Positioning BlackBerry

Gap analysis
suggested a
position of a
smart phone for
the youth.

Blackberry’s
serious image visà-vis Blackberry’s
cool, funky image.

Cool features,
great look and
low price.
BlackBerry is the
way to go!
BlackBerry – The Pricing

 BlackBerry stormed the market by focusing on enterprise sales

and getting corporate to push the brand among their employees.
 To increase market share and popular mind space, BlackBerry

made its smart phones accessible to even middle class
professionals.
 They placed phones in all price ranges starting from Rs.12,000

upto Rs.30,000, as well as with different features to suit
different needs, has enabled them to straddle a wider target
segment.
BlackBerry – The Pricing
 BlackBerry Q10





Rs. 38,500
BlackBerry Bold 4 9900
Rs. 26,899
BlackBerry Z10
Rs. 25,849
BlackBerry Bold 3 9780
Rs. 25,470
BlackBerry Q5
Rs. 23,157

 BlackBerry 9720






Rs. 14,787
BlackBerry Curve 9360
Rs. 14,100
BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300
Rs. 13,490
BlackBerry Curve 9320
Rs. 11,160
BlackBerry Bold 9650
Rs. 10,180
BlackBerry 9330
Rs. 8,400
Promotion Plan for BlackBerry

• Engage a youth icon, Ranbir Kapoor, as the Spokesperson and
endorser for the brand. The target audience would be able to
relate to a young endorser and this would leverage the
positioning of the brand.

• RIMs young officials would also serve as the spokesperson for
the brand.

• Create a lot of „buzz‟ amongst the youth by employing the
youngster as Buzz Agents in colleges and youth clubs. The buzz
agents would promote the brand through online viral campaigns
and word of mouth.
Promotion Plan for BlackBerry
Promotion Plan for BlackBerry
Competitor Analysis
 Nokia was the 1st foreign player to enter the Indian market in 1995.
 Gained its foothold by offerings basic mobile phones in affordable

price ranges.
 Recently, Nokia launched its latest range of touch screen and hi-end
phones, which are getting quite popular with Smart phones lovers of
India.
 Brand Focus:
o Gaming options
o Multimedia
o GPRS
o Faster Internet options
Competitor Analysis
 Apple iPhone is a revolutionary mobile device
 One of the most hyped devices in history
o
o
o

o

Complete web experience, wi-fi
Creative apps
iTunes marketplace
Slick UI, Touch screen

• 2001 – Samsung enters the Indian market
• Introduced affordable Smart phones in the market such as
hi-tech multimedia features, camera phones, design phones,
music phones, and web and email phones.
SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry
 Strengths
 Has developed an established brand
 Highly secure phones
 Strong focus on narrow customer segment
 Blackberry brand loyalty amongst niche market of corporate/

business customers
 Expanding global consumer base
 Has a loyal market share.
SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry
 Weaknesses
 Inability to market the brand
 BlackBerry OS
 Poor presence in the tablet market
 Losing brand loyalty amongst non-corporate customers

 Market perceptions of devices being for “professionals”
 R&D limited on innovation capabilities
SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry
 Opportunities
 Z10is launching with “hub” feature- unique to BlackBerry

 Growth of tablet and smart phone markets
 Obtaining patents through acquisitions
 Increasing Apps market (over 100,000 apps goal)
 Expanding marketing of Niche Business-class consumers

(small/ large businesses)
SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry
 Threats
 Rapid technological change
 Saturated smart phone markets in developed countries
 Large carrier refusing to sell Z10 model.
BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry
 Question Mark ? : BlackBerry Tablet
 One of RIM‟s current products that may be classified as a

Question Mark is its tablet. This product is still in development
and is rumored to be called the “BlackPad”.
 If designed as speculated, this tablet will be an answer to the
already developed Apple‟s IPad and Microsoft‟s Android tablet.
 While expected by the market and desired by loyal Blackberry
fans, it still remains to be determined whether this Blackpad will
be worth the capital investment RIM is placing in its R&D.
BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry
 Rising Star : (Blackberry Smartphone Z10, Q10 )
 Looking at the key trends in smart phone market, we can

characterize this market as a rapidly changing market with
constant product introductions.
 Typically this market has strong competition, aggressive pricing,
need for prompt imitation of technological advancements and
highly price sensitive customers.
BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry
 Cash Cow (Blackberry Bold, BlackBerry Curve)
 Development of RIM‟s Blackberry devices was made possible by

the success of RIM‟s Bold & Curve model, RIM‟s first genuine
Cash Cow product.
 The Cash Cow from the BCG model is described as being a
highly profitable.
 With a full QWERTY style keyboard and display, the allowed
users to receive, respond to, and initiate messages, Email, Push
mail and continual two-way communication via BBM.
BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry
 Cash Cow (Blackberry Bold & BlackBerry Curve)
 The product emerged as the market leader due to its ease of use,

long battery life.
 There was a high demand for this product in numerous settings
for applications such as wireless e-mail, portfolio management,
BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry
 DOG : (BlackBerry PAGER)
 According to the BCG Model, a “Dog” is a product that has both

low market share and growth potential. As a result, its ability to
generate cash is severely diminished.
 It is at this point where product lines like the InterActive Pager,
with its technology that initially made it RIM‟s Cash Cow, begins
to become the company‟s “Dog”.
Success Factors
 Creative Technology:
 The single, most compelling benefit that the BlackBerry provide

to its target customers to do both work hard, and play hard all in
one device.
 Blackberry device to use as a business tool, but it also include
new features so t it perceived as a social or networking tool.
 With these new features, BlackBerry not only be perceived a
professional tool for business consumers, but also as a fun social
networking device that attract early college students, tech‐savvy
individuals, and regular users who enjoy the latest smart phone
with the newest, most innovative features.
Success Key Factors
 Innovative Technology:
 SurePress touch screen
 Staying social‐ Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Myspace etc
 HD 8 MP camera with flash and video recording
 Multi‐tasking

 Superb battery life
 MAXimized multimedia‐ 12 GB of memory available and up

to 32 GB with a microSD card!
 More business apps‐ features all the traditional tools for
businesses and business professionals
Success Factors
 Rich PC web browsing ‐ includes a full HTML webkit browser
 Eco‐friendly design‐ Small, compact but will all the power of a

genius, smart phone, made in part with 25% recycled plastic
 Included phone tracking and locater‐ never lose your precious
phone again, just download the
 software on to your PC or Mac!
References
 Case study
 Marketing text book
 www.rim.com
 http://forums.crackberry.com
 http://gizmodo.com
 www.wikepedia.com
 www.apple.com/ca/iphone
Conclusion
 RIM has proven to have a strong track-record in the

telecommunications industry.
 Its products have been technologically sound and versatile
enough to be a household name while remaining specialized
enough to target business users specifically.
 As the BCG model stresses, the Cash Cow products must be used
wisely to position the company for long-term success. If this
means divesting or cutting losses on its Dog products, or
partnering with competitors on its Rising Stars, RIM needs to act
fast to take the appropriate steps. Its well-established business
followers will be ready to follow their lead.
THANK YOU

Blackberry-Marketing Strategy

  • 1.
    BY R I ZWA N DHANESH P R AT H A M E S H
  • 2.
    OBJECTIVES  Company background BlackBerry – The Product-History  Marketing Mix  Marketing Strategy of BlackBerry  Competitor Analysis  BCG & SWOT Analysis  Success Factors  References  Conclusion
  • 3.
    Company background  Name:  Industries served :  Geographic areas:  Headquarters :  Current CEO :  Revenue :  Profit :  Employees :  Main Competitors : Research In Motion BlackBerry Telecommunications equipment Worldwide Canada Thorsten Heins $ 18.435 billion (2012) $ 1.164 billion (2012) 12,700 (2013) Apple Inc., Nokia, Samsung
  • 4.
    BlackBerry – TheProduct-History  BlackBerry is a line of wireless handheld device developed by     the Canadian company, Research In Motion (RIM). 1999 – RIM introduced as a two-way Pager. 2003 - In 2003, the more commonly known smartphone BlackBerry was released, which supports push email, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing, Web browsing and other wireless information services. BlackBerry gained market share in the mobile industry by concentrating on email. All newer models have been optimized for "thumbing", the use of only the thumbs to type on a keyboard.
  • 5.
    BlackBerry – TheProduct-History  The track wheel was replaced by the trackball with the introduction of the Pearl series which allowed 4-way scrolling.  The trackball was replaced by the optical trackpad with the introduction of the Curve 8500 series.  BlackBerry PIN is an eight character hexadecimal identification number assigned to each BlackBerry device. PINs cannot be changed and are locked to each handset device.
  • 6.
    BlackBerry – TheProduct-History  BlackBerrys can message each other using the PIN directly or by using the Blackberry Messenger application-BBM.  On January 30, 2013, BlackBerry announced the release of the Z10 and Q10 smart phones.  Both models consist of touch screens: the Z10 features an all- touch design and the Q10 combines a QWERTY keyboard with touch screen features.
  • 7.
    Marketing Mix- Product •RIM’s most notable product is easily a “Blackberry”. • It has long been known as the phone with email access on the go, with security that has been difficult to match for its competitors. • Also, the BBM service is its core competence as well as a differentiating factor from other smart phones available in the market. • Main features that a BlackBerry smart phone offers are: 1. Push Email 2. Instant messaging features (BBM) 3. Mobile Telephone 4. Text messaging 5. Internet Faxing 6. Web browsing 7. Multi-touch interface
  • 8.
    Marketing Strategy ofBlackBerry Objective:  To create awareness about the BlackBerry brand in the youth market segment.  Positioning Blackberry as the „Smartphone‟ of choice for the youth and young professionals.  Highlight BlackBerry‟s beyond email capabilities.
  • 9.
    Marketing Mix-Target MarketSegment  Segment method : 1. Occupation  Business professionals  Quickly access sales, product and organizational data in any     database Remove the requirement to be near a desktop to view critical data Support decision-making with automatic alerts and automatically refreshed data Provide at-a-glance performance monitoring for accelerated action and decision making Be willing to pay more for the newest products that provide the function they need
  • 10.
    Marketing Mix-Target MarketSegment  2. behavior segmentation  Innovators : Successful, take charge people, High self-esteem,     Change leaders, Very active consumers Pursue the most fashionable products with advanced technology Like the fashionable design Like to purchase the products of leading brand Be willing to pay more for the newest products     3. Income Above 30,000/Month Purchase the expensive personal products Pursue the fashion products
  • 11.
    Marketing Mix-Target MarketSegment Blackberry provides the solution to target market combined with the business professional, innovators and high income segments.
  • 12.
    Marketing Mix-Target MarketSegment Positioning :  The place a product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products.  Blackberry is a smart phone that ensures consumers to receive all kind of information instantly, and be able to browse the Web, make or receive phone calls, organize the day and much more.  “To busy mobile professionals who need to always be in the loop, Blackberry is a wireless connectivity solution that allows you to stay connected to people and resources while on the go more easily and reliably than the competing technologies.”
  • 13.
    Marketing Strategy ofBlackBerry Introduce BlackBerry, for the new market segment Brand personality BlackBerry Appeal • 18-24 years • Tier I cities • Youth and young professionals • • • • • lifestyle; imagination; innovation; dreams and aspirations; power-to-the-people through technology. • All the features of the parent brand • Classic in look and display. • Available in youthful colors.
  • 14.
    Positioning BlackBerry Gap analysis suggesteda position of a smart phone for the youth. Blackberry’s serious image visà-vis Blackberry’s cool, funky image. Cool features, great look and low price. BlackBerry is the way to go!
  • 15.
    BlackBerry – ThePricing  BlackBerry stormed the market by focusing on enterprise sales and getting corporate to push the brand among their employees.  To increase market share and popular mind space, BlackBerry made its smart phones accessible to even middle class professionals.  They placed phones in all price ranges starting from Rs.12,000 upto Rs.30,000, as well as with different features to suit different needs, has enabled them to straddle a wider target segment.
  • 16.
    BlackBerry – ThePricing  BlackBerry Q10     Rs. 38,500 BlackBerry Bold 4 9900 Rs. 26,899 BlackBerry Z10 Rs. 25,849 BlackBerry Bold 3 9780 Rs. 25,470 BlackBerry Q5 Rs. 23,157  BlackBerry 9720      Rs. 14,787 BlackBerry Curve 9360 Rs. 14,100 BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 Rs. 13,490 BlackBerry Curve 9320 Rs. 11,160 BlackBerry Bold 9650 Rs. 10,180 BlackBerry 9330 Rs. 8,400
  • 17.
    Promotion Plan forBlackBerry • Engage a youth icon, Ranbir Kapoor, as the Spokesperson and endorser for the brand. The target audience would be able to relate to a young endorser and this would leverage the positioning of the brand. • RIMs young officials would also serve as the spokesperson for the brand. • Create a lot of „buzz‟ amongst the youth by employing the youngster as Buzz Agents in colleges and youth clubs. The buzz agents would promote the brand through online viral campaigns and word of mouth.
  • 18.
  • 19.
  • 20.
    Competitor Analysis  Nokiawas the 1st foreign player to enter the Indian market in 1995.  Gained its foothold by offerings basic mobile phones in affordable price ranges.  Recently, Nokia launched its latest range of touch screen and hi-end phones, which are getting quite popular with Smart phones lovers of India.  Brand Focus: o Gaming options o Multimedia o GPRS o Faster Internet options
  • 21.
    Competitor Analysis  AppleiPhone is a revolutionary mobile device  One of the most hyped devices in history o o o o Complete web experience, wi-fi Creative apps iTunes marketplace Slick UI, Touch screen • 2001 – Samsung enters the Indian market • Introduced affordable Smart phones in the market such as hi-tech multimedia features, camera phones, design phones, music phones, and web and email phones.
  • 22.
    SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry  Strengths Has developed an established brand  Highly secure phones  Strong focus on narrow customer segment  Blackberry brand loyalty amongst niche market of corporate/ business customers  Expanding global consumer base  Has a loyal market share.
  • 23.
    SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry  Weaknesses Inability to market the brand  BlackBerry OS  Poor presence in the tablet market  Losing brand loyalty amongst non-corporate customers  Market perceptions of devices being for “professionals”  R&D limited on innovation capabilities
  • 24.
    SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry  Opportunities Z10is launching with “hub” feature- unique to BlackBerry  Growth of tablet and smart phone markets  Obtaining patents through acquisitions  Increasing Apps market (over 100,000 apps goal)  Expanding marketing of Niche Business-class consumers (small/ large businesses)
  • 25.
    SWOT Analysis-BlackBerry  Threats Rapid technological change  Saturated smart phone markets in developed countries  Large carrier refusing to sell Z10 model.
  • 26.
    BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry  QuestionMark ? : BlackBerry Tablet  One of RIM‟s current products that may be classified as a Question Mark is its tablet. This product is still in development and is rumored to be called the “BlackPad”.  If designed as speculated, this tablet will be an answer to the already developed Apple‟s IPad and Microsoft‟s Android tablet.  While expected by the market and desired by loyal Blackberry fans, it still remains to be determined whether this Blackpad will be worth the capital investment RIM is placing in its R&D.
  • 27.
    BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry  RisingStar : (Blackberry Smartphone Z10, Q10 )  Looking at the key trends in smart phone market, we can characterize this market as a rapidly changing market with constant product introductions.  Typically this market has strong competition, aggressive pricing, need for prompt imitation of technological advancements and highly price sensitive customers.
  • 28.
    BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry  CashCow (Blackberry Bold, BlackBerry Curve)  Development of RIM‟s Blackberry devices was made possible by the success of RIM‟s Bold & Curve model, RIM‟s first genuine Cash Cow product.  The Cash Cow from the BCG model is described as being a highly profitable.  With a full QWERTY style keyboard and display, the allowed users to receive, respond to, and initiate messages, Email, Push mail and continual two-way communication via BBM.
  • 29.
    BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry  CashCow (Blackberry Bold & BlackBerry Curve)  The product emerged as the market leader due to its ease of use, long battery life.  There was a high demand for this product in numerous settings for applications such as wireless e-mail, portfolio management,
  • 30.
    BCG MATRIX-BlackBerry  DOG: (BlackBerry PAGER)  According to the BCG Model, a “Dog” is a product that has both low market share and growth potential. As a result, its ability to generate cash is severely diminished.  It is at this point where product lines like the InterActive Pager, with its technology that initially made it RIM‟s Cash Cow, begins to become the company‟s “Dog”.
  • 31.
    Success Factors  CreativeTechnology:  The single, most compelling benefit that the BlackBerry provide to its target customers to do both work hard, and play hard all in one device.  Blackberry device to use as a business tool, but it also include new features so t it perceived as a social or networking tool.  With these new features, BlackBerry not only be perceived a professional tool for business consumers, but also as a fun social networking device that attract early college students, tech‐savvy individuals, and regular users who enjoy the latest smart phone with the newest, most innovative features.
  • 32.
    Success Key Factors Innovative Technology:  SurePress touch screen  Staying social‐ Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Myspace etc  HD 8 MP camera with flash and video recording  Multi‐tasking  Superb battery life  MAXimized multimedia‐ 12 GB of memory available and up to 32 GB with a microSD card!  More business apps‐ features all the traditional tools for businesses and business professionals
  • 33.
    Success Factors  RichPC web browsing ‐ includes a full HTML webkit browser  Eco‐friendly design‐ Small, compact but will all the power of a genius, smart phone, made in part with 25% recycled plastic  Included phone tracking and locater‐ never lose your precious phone again, just download the  software on to your PC or Mac!
  • 34.
    References  Case study Marketing text book  www.rim.com  http://forums.crackberry.com  http://gizmodo.com  www.wikepedia.com  www.apple.com/ca/iphone
  • 35.
    Conclusion  RIM hasproven to have a strong track-record in the telecommunications industry.  Its products have been technologically sound and versatile enough to be a household name while remaining specialized enough to target business users specifically.  As the BCG model stresses, the Cash Cow products must be used wisely to position the company for long-term success. If this means divesting or cutting losses on its Dog products, or partnering with competitors on its Rising Stars, RIM needs to act fast to take the appropriate steps. Its well-established business followers will be ready to follow their lead.
  • 36.