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 – 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
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 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.
9. 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
10. 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
11. Marketing Mix-Target Market Segment
Blackberry provides
the solution to target
market combined with
the business
professional,
innovators and high
income segments.
12. 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.”
13. 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.
14. 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!
15. 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.
17. 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.
20. 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
21. 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.
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
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.
27. 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.
28. 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.
29. 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,
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
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.
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
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!
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 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.
