This week I was at the big BlackBerry 10 launch in Toronto with a few of the CrackBerry team members. No question – there wasn’t much in the way of news since most of it had already leaked or been released by BlackBerry in the way of demos.
The biggest “news” people talked about in the media (and in social media) was the “delayed” launch of the BlackBerry Z10 in the US market. It’s coming in March.
This has already caused a lot of the bad-math types to say it’s not going to be here for two months. Because apparently if you take today and add two months, that’s March (no sorry, that’s called APRIL).
It’s also caused something I find even more hilarious. People bashing the idea of a BlackBerry commercial because nobody will be able to run out and buy the phone yet.
I tweeted about this already, but it’s worth a quick blog post while I wait for my coffee to brew …
If a major Hollywood studio released a new movie trailer at the Super Bowl, would people immediately hit up Twitter and start bitching about how dumb it was to advertise a movie that you couldn’t go see yet?
Of course not.
Oh, and for the guy who replied telling me that he disagreed with my analogy because a movie is not the same a consumer? You’re mapping the analogy across incorrectly. The comparison is between a movie and an ITEM YOU BUY. And the psychological principal of anticipation is the same. The customer, in both cases, is you.
Hi, I'm Chris Umiastowski. I'm a 10-year veteran of sell side equity research and this is where I come to connect with friends on all things related to tech investing.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s about expectation. Consumers are accustomed to waiting for movies to be released because we know that trailers are months (or one year in the case of Superman) before coming out. (i.e. editing, adding special effects, rewrites, reshooting, etc). When it comes to electronics and products you can buy that expectation level is higher. Usually when I see a commercial for, and let’s say for an iPhone or and Android device, usually the piece of equipment is available for pre-order or purchase within days of the ad. I as a consumer expect something like that to be available when a commercial airs. Maybe that is just me and I rarely see commercials for any of them until the product is ready to launch. Commercials are meant to grab the consumer and make them desire a product or influence them enough to compel them to buy. We all suffer from short term memory. How is a commercial airing in February supposed to stay with us until mid to late March? Also if you look at past history, I’ll use AT&T and Verizon, they do not really air their commercials until the product is ready, not months before. So again the expectation level is different depending on the item being advertised. A movie does not compare to electronic equipment.
I hear you … and I think BlackBerry’s mission here is to rebuild interest in the brand. Commercials are rarely about direct response. Flyers with discount coupons, or emails with “click here to buy this now” are. Commercials are a totally different beast. Anyone with more TV advertising experience care to weigh in?
It completely depends on the ultimate goal the company is aiming at. If you want to give sales a push on existing products in the short-term, you choose for example direct mailings (as you said) with response elements, which belongs to ‘direct marketing’. But the goal BlackBerry has now, especially after the recent years, is to build up a new image, bring the brand back to smartphone user’s minds and push the Z10 back to their ‘relevant set’. This is not and can’t be a short-term approach. The super bowl ad may say ‘stay tuned for updates at your carrier of choice’ or something like that and that’s fine. Sure it’d be always better if the product is available instantly, but the ad won’t be worthless at all the way it’s like now. At least the carriers may take preorders and maybe this will be also said in the ad.
However, I think the problem here lays in wallstreet. Investors are interested in the short-term here and want the devices take as much impact as possible at the current fiscal quarter. But that’s a whole different story and doesn’t effect end customers in any way – despite the bad press it may bring up.
Actually, that guy was me and I said I disagreed with your analogy for two reasons. 1. Because a BB is a consumer GOOD (product) versus a movie with is relatively nebulous and can’t really he held by a person and 2. BBBY hasn’t released a flagship device in almost 2 years in the US ..and with all of the wait for BB10, I think some BB fans are getting impatient to get their hands it. Never once have I bashed BBBY about the month delay…in my opinion, it just might not help their cause for capturing new smartphone users and stealing away current Android/Apple users if they see the Superbowl commercial and then don’t have a device that they can touch and explore the next day..or the next weekend. Again, this is just my opinion and certainly not a slam on BBBY.
I’m glad you got pulled into this
I was hoping to have that happen since Twitter’s 140 character limit is a bit of a pain to debate things. Given your explanation above, I understand. Your initial comment didn’t come across the same, it seemed you were mapping a movie over to a person. Yes, there are some differences between tangible goods and movies (intangible), but that’s (in my view) too much of an unemotional way to look at it. Advertising is an emotional art. If you build anticipation for something, doesn’t matter what form that thing comes in.
Would it be better if it were available right away? Yeah, of course … or within a week. In fact I think a short delay would actually be better than immediate availability. The ideal situation would have been for BlackBerry to say, “USA launch is on February 10th” or something concrete like that. But it would not have been ideal, in my opinion, to make it available Jan 31st like in the UK. The best effect for the Super Bowl commercial comes from creating some anticipation and then knowing exactly when the tension will be released (via launch).
I’m glad we finally got to iron out the Twitter exchange as I didn’t want you to think I was out in left field or something.
As for the BB10 marketing, I think you are 100% right…and the Superbowl commercial could be just the start of a huge advertising blitz in the US for the next month or two. I’m not sure what Frank has up his sleeve, but I hope it is good. I want BBRY and BB10 to take off just as much as the next guy (assuming the next guy isn’t an Apple/Android fanboy).
I can see the reason for the SB ad if it the start of the BBRY BB10 push – certainly the agency would have pitched whats the biggest exposure we can get in North America. But I think it’s very high risk as it is about delivery now. So my question would be is that in place end to end? How would I test that? Walk into a selection of stores Monday morning ask about a Z10. If there isn’t an engaging conversation, some collateral, some pre order process or offer even then that ad is a really bad call. Worse still the retail staff might just convert my smartphone interest into a Samsung because that’s what they’ve got a quota for and what they get paid for this month. Would be interested to hear if any readers can try that early next week.