Ch. 18- Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

According to my source, BlackBerry as a company isn’t the one that does different promotions for their product, it’s the carriers. The carriers are the ones who mainly do package deals which will help to sell the device. BlackBerry however, is the one who gives the pricing of the device and the carriers make their own promotions based on the device itself. In 2009 BlackBerry kicked iPhone to the Curve literally when BlackBerry announced their selling promotion of the Blackberry Curve. The Curve was a huge winner for two main reasons. One was Verizon’s “Buy one get one free promotion” for the Blackberry Curve, which pushed it over the top. The second reason was that the Curve was available for all the four major carriers while of course the iPhone was only exclusive to AT&T. The aggressive promotion for the Curve also didn’t fail because of its lightweight, inexpensive and thin characteristics which make BlackBerry a popular phone.

In recent years BlackBerry is finding new ways to promote their product based on the current or potential customers because different sale promotions appeal to different buyers. Their promotion strategy is always being on their toes about their competitors’ customer approach and making sure their promotions appeal better to draw customers to say “Yes I want a BlackBerry.”  The fact that BlackBerry phones are so inexpensive is what makes it a big seller. I just looked at AT&T website and for you to get a BlackBerry Torch whether it is the 9800 or 9810 guess how much it cost? Just $29.99 or $49.99 respectively with their 2yr contract while the iPhone 4 8GB is $99.99 and iPhone 4S 16GB is $199.99 with a 2yr contract. Now tell me if I see something like that which should be my obvious choice? A BlackBerry most definitely which is exactly why I choose that plus the fact that I can talk to most people via BBM is just the icing on top of the cake.

Mail-in-rebates are also a part of BlackBerry offers. These rebates are given after the purchase is made and a valid sales receipt (which is proof of purchase) is handed to the customer he or she will then submit it to the rebate department which is listed on the receipt. Offers like these bring a sense of comfort to the customers because their purchase of the device is good given the company’s quality, reputation and of course price which is the main reason why customers shop.

Ch. 17- Advertising and Public Relations

BlackBerry has been very creative and innovative in their company’s approach to advertise their product to consumers. The slogans such as: “Be Bold. BlackBerry” and their main one of recent years “Love what you do BlackBerry” has shot  through the roof and has made a huge impact for them. This is something that I believe their advertising department did a brilliant job with creating this slogan. Seeing that you only have a few second to catch someone’s eyes and ears and get their interest for product and the brand BlackBerry has spent millions putting its advertising and marketing campaigns making sure that they do just that, capture your attention in just a few seconds.

BlackBerry I guess did their research and found out that there has to be another way to market the brand other than just putting out regular ads. So BlackBerry did a very smart thing so they can advertise their brand to a larger audience. What better way to do than to sponsor one of the biggest music groups in the world, The Black Eyed Peas. In 2010 BlackBerry sponsored The Black Eyed Peas the E.N.D tour and they made a very creative way for consumers to check out some making of videos and tour footage as well a tour tickets and date info through Dipdive Player. By using this popular music group they have tapped into another way to market the brand through of course entertainment. This is the biggest way if you want to market this product because customers are into music and by using this widely popular group they were able to do just that.

Will.i.am BlackBerry Concert

BlackBerry has also been made its mark in movies and on tv shows such as Keeping up the Kardashians and used by celebs use as Rihanna, Reese Witherspoon, Britney Spears and so many others. Some may call this free advertising because celebs are seen with them but there is no such thing. Celebs’ using BlackBerry and people seeing them with it just makes some people want to get this phone because their favorite celebs have them. This helps potential customers to see the brand, BlackBerry as more of a personal phone rather than a business phone. 

Rihanna

Stacy Keibler at BlackBerry Bold launch

Ch. 15- Retailing

BlackBerry store in Michigan

In December 2007 BlackBerry opened their first retail store in Farmington Hill, Michigan. The store offers BlackBerry device models and accessories from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint the major U.S. carriers which offer smart phones. The BlackBerry Store will offer BlackBerry training services for both BlackBerry users and BlackBerry enterprise server (BES) administrators.

BlackBerry store in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

Since then instead of doing the usual stores on the streets BlackBerry has done something very unique; putting stores in the busiest place in the world, airports. On April 21, 2009 BlackBerry open its doors inside the Hartsfield- Jackson Airport in Atlanta, Georgia and there on out they have opened up six (6) other stores in Boston Logan International Airport, Houston George Bush International Airport, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport. These are full service location where travelers can establish new service, upgrade existing plans and shop for the latest and greatest BlackBerry devices and accessories. Opening a full service store has helped boost sales because of the unique services they all offer.

BlackBerry store in China

Don’t think that BlackBerry forgot about the international market. In July 2010 BlackBerry opened their first international store in where else China. This move hopes to bring BlackBerry back into the mainstream there since the devices have been mostly been sold through third-party distributors for the last few years. The BlackBerry store should bring a better consumer experience and help sales increase. The only devices currently available are the newly released Curve 8910 as well as the Curve 8310 which will both operate on the China Mobile network, but there is no mention if more devices will follow. There are also plans to open more retail stores in China sometime in the future.

Ch. 6- Consumer Decision Making

BlackBerry has become the company for people who are not just about business but are about making their everyday life so much easier. They have created top-of-the-line products which are making present and perspective customers think about which one of the products they want because they are so sleek and so up-to-date with the looks. BlackBerry has a product that is hard to copy thats why i believe they are in a league of their own just because of what they are giving customers the ability to do with their devices which mostly the reason a customer would choose a BlackBerry over an iPhone or even an Android device.

Even though people have the popular misconception that BlackBerries are only used by business people it is becoming more and more clear that they aren't the only ones that will buy this product. While it is still popular around the business world,BlackBerry as a smart phone has provided all users to what they love the most; their social networks and easy access to their emails.

Apart from doing mobile emails extremely well, BlackBerry also has the power of carrier services on their side. While competitors like Apple and Android dabble in just specific networks with the same design of phones make and model BlackBerry on the other far hand has made sure that they have different models for all their device carriers to give customers choices as to which carrier they want to go to based on the phones make and model they have had their eye on. Surprising to know that its not just about the carrier that customers base their decision off to get a BlackBerry its also about other things like the apps which are available to them for any and everything they the customers want to make life easier but also because the way they can multitask like never before giving customers more reasons why they need a BlackBerry. 

With all these options in the market for BlackBerry it isn't very hard to get customers to choose their product over their competitors which I believe if they continue on this way by moving with the time they will continue to be very successful.