Question

Pick a product or brand of your choice that is sold in your geographical location (Canada). From an examination of any marketing medium (such as advertising, packaging, or website) and reflecting on the 4P’s of marketing, construct a value proposition for the product or brand. Conduct substantial research on the product or brand in order to get a good understanding of how the brand has evolved and where it is heading.

Submit a 2-3 page paper, (independent of the title page and reference page) Be sure to cite any sources in APA Format. Conduct substantial research on the product or brand in order to get a good understanding of how the brand has evolved and where it is heading.

Answer 1

BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian multinational company specialising in enterprise software and the Internet of things. Originally known as Research In Motion (RIM), it is best known to the general public as the former developer of the BlackBerry brand of smartphones, and tablets.

Research In Motion Limited was founded in March 1984 by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin.[5] At the time, Lazaridis was an engineering student at the University of Waterloo while Fregin was an engineering student at the University of Windsor.[6] In 1988, RIM became the first wireless data technology developer in North America and the first company outside Scandinavia to develop connectivity products for Mobitex wireless packet-switched data communications networks. RIM soon began to introduce BlackBerry devices aimed towards the consumer market as well, beginning with the BlackBerry Pearl 8100—the first BlackBerry phone to include multimedia features such as a camera. The introduction of the Pearl series was highly successful, as was the subsequent Curve 8300 series and Bold 9000. Extensive carrier partnerships fuelled the rapid expansion of BlackBerry users globally in both enterprise and consumer markets.

Blackberry Product Marketing Mix

BlackBerry offers a range of products under the following broad categories:

• BlackBerryMessenger
• BlackBerry Playbook
• BlackBerry 10
• BlackBerry Enterprise Server
• BlackBerry Internet Service
• QNX

BlackBerry’s Smartphones are the most widely known product of the company. The devices became popular because of its excellent ‘email on- the- go’ feature with security that is unmatched by other competitors’ offerings. BlackBerry Classic and BlackBerry Leap are two of their most popular Smartphone models though there have been other models too.

BlackBerry 10 is a proprietary operating system for their own line of Smartphones whereas BlackBerry Playbook is a mini tablet.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version 5 is their latest Enterprise Server offering and provides the middleware software that is a part of Wireless platform that is supplied by BlackBerry Limited. The software and its services connect to collaboration and messaging software on enterprise networks.

Blackberry Place Marketing Mix

Blackberry stores are available in North America, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2007, a Blackberry store opened in Michigan USA. There are blackberry stores operated at airports in several parts of United States like Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Houston to name a few though most of them will be closing soon. In 2015, the company opened its first pop-up store in Germany.

BlackBerry had 85 million subscribers around the world till 2013. However, with the popularity of Android and ios platforms, it has lost much of its following. Today it only has 23 million subscribers worldwide.

Blackberry Price Marketing Mix

BlackBerry Smartphones became most sought- after due to its e-mail access on the go feature. The company strategized on focusing largely on enterprise sales and enabling corporate to thrust the brand within their own employees. To capture the market, BlackBerry made its smartphones affordable to also middle-class professionals. The brand’s steep prices had hampered fast growth in the beginning. But later their strategically placed phones in every sort of price ranges that starts from Rs.4, 410 and goes up to Rs.53, 200 with different attributes in order to suit different needs, which has enabled them to cut across a wider target segment. Some of its models are available at throwaway prices in e-commerce sites in India.

The prices of some of their models available in India are:

• Blackberry Porsche Design P9983 Rs. 53,200
• Blackberry Passport Rs.26,330
• Blackberry Classic Rs. 21, 990
• Blackberry Priv Rs. 43,999
• Blackberry Bold Touch 9900 Rs. 7,999
• Blackberry Curve 3G9300 Rs. 7,500

Some of its earlier models are available at throwaway prices in e-commerce sites.

Blackberry Promotion Marketing Mix

Blackberry is making the best attempt possible to recapture lost ground. For one, it is focusing on its Smartphone segment to gain much of its lost glory. The current strategy of the company is to focus on their business customers. Smartphones like BlackBerry 10 are perfect for business communication with unique features like centralised messages and notification of new messages with a blinking red light. For their new Passport Smartphone, they are targeting professionals in the healthcare industry. The company is leveraging on the excellent security features of Blackberry Smartphones and therefore branding them as the perfect phone to be used in industries such as healthcare, insurance, and banking.