The past couple of years have seen BlackBerry losing its luster and relevance but the company finally has some good news. Data from BrandIndex reports BlackBerry has seen its ad awareness grow in advance of the US debut of its BlackBerry 10 OS, while purchase intent for the rival iPhone and direct comparison has fallen.
The new BlackBerry 10 OS has been considered by many as the last chance to save the BlackBerry brand. As such, BlackBerry put together all its resources and efforts to make it a success. The reviews for both the OS and new models have been good so far. One example, The Financial Times, effusively makes the case that the company has out-Appled Apple:
“Within 30 seconds of picking it up, I felt as if I had the iPhone 6 in my hand. Running iOS 7. It is an awesome phone, with a pleasing new operating system, BB10.”
The resources poured into the launch have also extended into marketing with Frank Boulben. BlackBerry (ex Research In Motion), rebranded its corporate image and name in an attempt to concentrate attention on the brand. They have also appointed singer-songwriter Alicia Keys as “global creative director” and spent $4 million on an ad broadcast during the Super Bowl, the first such ad for the brand.
While the spot, designed to “re-introduce” the brand, received mixed reviews from critics, it seems to have been a success insofar as ad awareness is concerned.
The brand’s ad awareness among smartphone owners rose from a low of 6% in mid-January to 21% by the end of February. Equally advantageous for BlackBerry is that Apple has seen both its ad awareness and purchase intent numbers for the iPhone drop during the same period. Ad-awareness dropped from 44% on January 15 to 38% on March 4, while purchase intent decreased from 14% to 7%.
Ad-Awareness: BlackBerry and iPhone
Complementary data from YouGov InvestorView also paints a modestly improved picture for BlackBerry. According to data compiled over the first quarter of 2012, among consumers who owned a BlackBerry phone and were likely to purchase a new phone in the next six months, only 30% planned to choose another BlackBerry phone. More BlackBerry users (34%) were likely to purchase an iPhone and an additional 12% planned to purchase from Samsung.
On the other hand, during the first two months of 2013, 34% of BlackBerry owners who plan to purchase a new phone in the next six months say they will stay with BlackBerry. Planned defections to Apple have decreased significantly to 17% while planned defections to Samsung have increased to 31%.
The data presented is far from indicative of certain success for BlackBerry, but it appears there is at least an opening for the company to take back some ground. While the US will still have to wait a few weeks for the full release of the new phones, BlackBerry might just have a chance.
Smartphone Buyers Q1, 2012
Smart Phone Buyers, Q1, 2013
While these stats may not look significant to many, they give a positive outlook on BlackBerry’s efforts to increase global awareness of the new OS and to an extent serve as proof of their success. I believe BlackBerry’s biggest challenge is not the awareness of a new OS, I think everyone knows there is a new BlackBerry out there. What BlackBerry needs to do is convince the world that this is not just another BlackBerry. Telling the world the OS was rebuilt falls on deaf ears, I’m sure a majority of people couldn’t care less about the effort that was put into it, they care for a device that delivers. BlackBerry should focus less on the back story and prove the “mobile computing” experience they are promising.
BlackBerry was measured using data from YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov InvestorView generated using a nationally representative sample. BrandIndex’s Ad-Awareness score asks respondents, “Which of the following brands have you seen an advertisement for in the past two weeks?” BrandIndex’s Purchase Intent score asks respondents, “Which of these brands would you be most likely to purchase?”
Source: Forbes