A ton of negatives in this quarter, including:
- BB10 being delayed until late 2012
- the CEO's saying that they will each take a $1-a-year salary
- Emphasis that growth in emerging markets was over 700 per cent
- Growth strategies in 2012 essentially come down to a marketing campaign
I suppose you can see these things as positives, but I don't.
Delaying BB10 is the right thing to do if it's not ready, but the point is, it's not ready.
Taking a buck in salary might seem like a statement of commitment to the company, but what it really says to me is that morale within RIM is falling apart and a move like this is necessary to try and convince employees that the CEO's are committed to the company. Salary means nothing to CEOs compared to the value of their stocks and stock options, so if not taking a salary boosts employee morale, then that's what you do, the point though is that no one does this unless employee morale is falling off a cliff. Whenever you see a CEO take a one-dollar salary (John Chambers of Cisco did this many years ago, back in the tech crash of 2001 I believe), it tells you employees are all talking about jumping ship if they can.
Emerging market growth is very bad if it's the leading story. That means that the company is being forced out of the 'land of milk and honey' markets and in to the markets that others have less interest in. Not good (especially given at some point those dominating the top-tier markets will eventually move in to the lower tier markets and displace RIM there as well).
And lastly, and most importantly, a marketing campaign when you don't know how to market is very negative and a waste of money and what little brand equity you have left. I praise RIM for realizing that marketing is a HUGE part of their problem, but doing more bad marketing isn't going to help.
How bad is RIM's marketing? The very fact that they named the new OS, that is suppose to save the company, BB10, exemplifies they have no idea what they are doing.
Just how unoriginal can you possibly get? This is your 'fresh start'?
I mean BBX wasn't the best name either, but at least it said 'We're up to something different'. BB10 just says we've got another 'upgrade' heading your way. But don't worry, it's so good that we skipped BB8 and BB9 and went right to BB10!
I mean, give me a break.
I hate to say this, but at this point I think the best thing RIM could do is simply stop doing marketing or PR. Just get out of the public spotlight until you get your act together. Embrace humility, focus on execution, and hopefully wow the world in a year from now with BB10.
I almost never say that going quiet is a good thing. It almost never is. But in RIM's case, they've screwed up their marketing and their PR messaging so badly for so long now, that the more they talk the more they remind people how disconnected from reality they are right now.
Better to go quiet, issue statements as required for a publicly traded stock, and let people forget all about you. Even when you have wins, don't publicize them beyond the basic news release. Let the market's curiosity reform on its own. Do your best to be forgotten so that when you re-emerge in twelve months, people are receptive to what you have to say and perhaps some curiosity has built up over that time.
To see just how bad RIM's marketing is, go check out the BlackBerry Web site. There is a video on the homepage where they tout BB7 as unlocking 'powerful new features and apps'. Really? Everyone knows the problem with RIM is that they have no apps. So you are pitching your greatest weakness as your strength? That's ridiculous. It assumes that consumers are idiots who will believe a Big Mac is a steak if you simply tell them that's the case.
See, RIM keeps thinking if they just say the right buzz words then people will start to think of them as being the same as Apple or Google (this is unbelievably common within the tech sector by the way). It's utter denial of the situation they are in.
What they need to do, if you are going to do marketing and PR, is re-frame the narrative as a comeback story. People like you RIM, they really do. They don't like your products anymore, but they like you.
YOU created the smartphone.
YOU created that entire market.
YOU started it all.
But the world passed you by and you have to acknowledge that. You have to market the fact that YOU started it all and YOU will get back in the race and YOU will change the face of communications again!
You have to think of yourself like Rocky and you have to get the public to see you as Rocky (and do your best to get them to see Apple as the Russian that supposedly can't be beat). Sure, you're outmatched, but that doesn't mean you are out for the count.
But if you can't see this then you shouldn't be marketing yourselves at all. Heal your wounds in privacy and rejoin the smartphone conversation when you're back on your feet. You may not realize it, but the more you market yourselves at this point (given the type of marketing you are doing) the more you are advertising that you are at best a second-tier offering compared to Android and Apple.
I don't even know what RIM's tagline is and I'm not going to bother looking it up, it's probably something like "Making communications simplier" or some other vanilla saying.
What RIM's new tagline should be is "You think your Boss? We'll show you Boss." Boss is a saying that is becoming popular to describe someone that is an underdog but who stands up to the powers that be - He's so Boss - is generally how it's used.
Yes, it's out there, but it says we've had enough and we're going to start fighting. It also brings to mind that RIM use to be the boss when it came to smartphones and you can't count someone out who started the industry.
Anyway, at its current prices I think RIM might be speculative play. I'm toying with buying some shares because I think you simply can't damage the brand any more than it has been damaged (I'll wait until next week to see if the stock gets flushed out even further from where it is). Having said that, sentiment can still go lower on RIM if they continue to show that they just don't get it, so be careful about jumping in to RIM.
Either go away and come back another day, or get some bite in your bark.
Comments
Post a Comment