Research In Motion’s new chief executive officer Thorsten Heins has vowed to focus more on consumer marketing. He outlined his vision for the Waterloo, Ont.-based company with 15 minutes worth of YouTube videos – a sharp contrast from the tight-lipped Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, who often remained behind the scenes.
“We need to be more marketing-driven,” Heins said in a call with analysts. “We need to be more consumer oriented because this is where a lot of our growth is coming from.”
Here’s the chatter on RIM’s marketing strategy (present and future) and what the company needs to do in order to win back public opinion.
Carmi Levy @ Toronto Star
“I don’t want to sound nasty, but RIM hasn’t been able to market its way out of a paper bag for quite some time. It’s clear that engineers have been responsible for your messaging. I love engineers, but they shouldn’t be allowed near the marketing materials. Send them back to the labs and hire a marketing/advertising/PR team that understands how to make people feel an emotional connection to your products once again.”
Kevin Kelleher @ Fortune/CNN Money
“RIM could compete more aggressively simply by building its brand, especially in North America. It wasn’t just the Apple iPhone that stole the Blackberry’s thunder, it was also the iPhone commercials [that made] the Blackberry experience seem outdated. RIM has been without a marketing chief since March. A strong marketing push would not only prime consumers for the new generation of Blackberries, it could return some allure to RIM in the eyes of carriers and app developers. Without their support, new products will sink.”
Marguerite Reardon @ CNET
“Remember those suit-wearing “crackberry” addicts? The company’s rock-solid security and messaging services won the hearts and minds of executives, lawyers, bankers, and Congressional leaders. If RIM is serious about a come back, it needs to go back to its roots. This means keeping aspects of its devices that its core audience love: superior QWERTY keypad, security and strong messaging services. At the same time the company needs to add elements it has been missing: a good touch screen, easy-to-use interface, plenty of apps, and a good browser.”
Ted Schadler @ ZDNet
“RIM has been focused on the wrong assets for the past three years, competing in a consumer market against the most powerful consumer brands in the world and suffering from tablet night terrors. It’s not working. Stop fighting the consumerization battle. Fight a battle that takes advantage of what made RIM a fabulous company in the first place: its secure data delivery network.”
Can RIM catch up with competitors like Apple and Google? Is marketing the best or only fix for RIM’s problems? Post your thoughts in our comment section.
