Blackberry Successful Branding - Case Study Example

Branding Name Course Date Introduction Each and every day, competition is turning out to be severe and hence it is crucial for an organization to win the customer’s heart so as to beat their competitors. Most organizations have realized that the brand name in which the company associates its products and services with is a valuable asset. Since 1980, it has been imperative development for managers in understanding that recognized brands could symbolize a particular value for the organization – an essential principle or foundation which supports a product or the company. This fundamental principle is known as positioning, without which the brand would have no grip (Aaker, 2009). Successful brand positioning discards conformity. When well utilized, positioning hoists a brand over the competition so that individuals cannot resist the opportunity to pay heed to. The human brain instinctively looks for things that are unexpected and different. A brand that prevails in severe conditions as oppose to its rival will draw in individuals' consideration and have a unique point of interest in the marketplace. This paper will discuss the success of Blackberry as a successful brand in contrast to Blueberry which is a failed brand. Blackberry Successful branding Throughout its history, the Blackberry device has shown that it is the foundation of a flourishing monitor smart phone rather than a standard phone. This feature never bothered the Blackberry despite all the obstruction they encountered since the market is dominated by technology and turned out to be the leading brand in the mobile phone industry (Aaker, 2009). Blackberry was founded in the market initially around the 1990s. Unluckily, the brand didn’t make it big in the mobile phone industry up to around 2000. After the year 2000, they became aware of strategies of customer attraction and set up well-structured brand awareness. This made the customers realize what the Blackberry brand entails (Bloise, 2010). By the close of year 2004, the number of customers who were using Blackberry was in excess of one million. This showed that the management had devised ways of positioning and segmenting the brand in the minds of the customers within a short period (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2012). The number of Blackberry end users increased steadily throughout the years up to the point they hit three million end users globally (Keller, 2009). Blackberry designed diverse models and series of smart phones that satisfied distinct market segments the all through, each and every one was different from the other. They came up with earlier models like Blackberry 6000s, 5000s and 850. Other models included java, 7000 and 7100 series, 8000-9000 series that includes Blackberry torch, curve 8900 and bold 9000 which are available in the market today (Bloise, 2010). To begin with, Blackberry 850 models were to a larger extent more than a typical cell phone. When it was first introduced in the market, the clients were not seeking or willing to buy a mobile phone which had wireless option or email incorporated in it as it was softly suggested low in the market. However, the mobile phone changed the life of business people since they could organize their life through calendars; they received their emails even when on transit through the internet, and they could organize meetings through organizers. Subsequent to the brand knowledge and recommendations were on the rise (Kapferer, 2008). The 5000- 6000 series that followed, the Blackberry reorganized the phone and incorporated high quality and more options in the monitor. This meant that it could handle the environmental and technological change which would in turn give it a competitive edge in the market over their competitors (Bloise, 2010). Case in point, the Blackberry included java in their phones for the first time, the batteries were of high quality and rechargeable, high memory storage and the ability to sustain equal to ten emails. This Blackberry series was the starting point of the success journey made by Blackberry. More and more Blackberry series were produced which helped in positioning of the brand in the minds of the consumers (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2012). The customers could with ease remember each time the category of the mobile phones whenever they were mentioned in their presence (Keller, 2009). Throughout the years, the Blackberry cell phones have revolutionized. The phone has a colored screen instead of customary black and white; the memory has become huge from the small memory they used to have. Rather than having batteries with a limited lifetime; they have a strong battery, and rather than the customary old shape, it has modernized. All these changes have constituted into creating strong brand equity inclusive of high and good brand association and brand awareness (Aaker, 2009). The 8000-9000 and the Blackberry torch series which are newest in the market are more developed and are in line with the latest technologies like Wi-Fi connections, GPRS and so on. This has made the brand name to be developed more than its competitors. The brand has targeted more customers, and they are become more attracted to the brand, and it has gained brand equity via the set links which connects it to the brand name. This has lead to excellent brand positioning and knowledge (Aaker, 2009). Blueberry: Case of a failed brand The Blueberry brand had a story similar to the one like Blackberry. The brand attempted to compete with the Blackberry brand in the mobile phone industry through production of different versions of cell phones while targeting the same end users. At times, they attempted to use skimming strategy to sell their products in the market; they reduced the prices in a bid to capture the high competitive mobile phone and technology industry (Kapferer, 2008). Due to these strategies in pricing and the application of integrated marketing communication systems, the clients bought the Blueberry phones with the hope that they will get equal services like the ones offered by Blackberry but at a lower price. Several models of the phones were produced in which they thought that would attract consumers from their competitors, but it failed (Bloise, 2010). Why the brand failed To start with, the Blueberry was manufactured in China. Mobile phones made in China have various shortcomings like less screen resolution, lacks special volume key in addition to numerous shortcut menus. The phones didn’t have any special features apart from ordinary mobile phone features. The company did not pay attention to the manner in which its employees interacted with the clients or offering assistance to the end users. The organization gave feeble services and customer care which at long last lead to poor client satisfaction (Bloise, 2010). The Blueberry phones are prone to damage and have a short life span. Due to this the clients stopped utilizing the phones and they reverted to phones that would give them a high quality they required and better services. This in itself damaged the Blueberry brand (Keller, 2009). Given that the phones were manufactured in China reveals that phones are normally smuggled, this was a real threat to the Blackberry brand initially. However, the clients stopped buying the Blueberry cell phones later. The Blueberry brand failed to make an impact in the market (Bloise, 2010). Due to the lack of good customer care and production of substandard phones and services, the brand was a massive failure ion the mobile phone and technology market (Kapferer, 2008). The company felled into crisis given that close to all its customers transferred their attention and intention to other cell phone brands and companies. Blueberry brand was not working fruitfully apart from the initial stages prior to customers discovering that the organization was not qualified professionally to manufacture cell phones (Aaker, 2009). How Blueberry can be successful The Blueberry brand faced failure and huge losses in the market. This came about due to non-organized company planning for an item or else trying to make a brand name devoid of criteria for selecting their elements of the brand. Thus, Blueberry presumably was not focused on creating brand equity (Keller, 2009). The company started off with the imitation of the Blackberry brand in additional to giving their products at a throwaway price while in actual fact clients were searching for reasonable prices and high-quality attributes (Kapferer, 2008). Any company that is coming up with a project or commencing new brand in the market should have a clear conscious on how to come up with strong brand. The company should build a strong relationship between the customer and the brand. This will affect the brand directly through creation of a strong brand (Aaker, 2009). Blueberry should have put into consideration brand meaning, brand response, brand meaning, brand relationship and brand identity but not initiating their product by replicating Blackberry product. They should have thought of new innovative ideas and design an original product with improved characteristics that would influence the clients to shift from utilizing other cell phones not only Blackberry (Keller, 2009). Conclusion To build a successful brand does not only entail having a huge market share in the industry initially and afterward failing. Genuine success is enjoying customer loyalty of the brand and elevating the sales of the brand that in the long run will lead to strong brand equity (Bloise, 2010). The success of Blackberry has been made successful by diverse factors. For example, high brand awareness, good quality products, efficient integrated marketing and boasting of a good brand positioning. All these factors have kept the Blackberry brand in the market while making it have a competitive edge over the competitors. Blueberry did not prioritize in building brand equity through the creation of a relationship between the brand and the clients. The company focused on imitating Blackberry and using lower prices to lure Blackberry clients to change to Blueberry for cheap prices. The company was not innovative to create brand equity and in turn be a competitive force in the mobile and technology industry. References Aaker, D. A. (2009). Managing brand equity. New York: Simon and Schuster. Bloise, J. D. (2010). Successful Brand Development: Branding Strategies for your small business. Retrieved 10th Nov. 2014 http://www.powerhomebiz.com/marketing-tips/branding/successful-brand-development-branding-strategies-for-your-small-business.htm Kapferer, J. (2008). The new strategic brand management. London: Kogan Page. Keller, K. L. (2009). Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal of marketing communications, 15(2-3), 139-155. Huang, R. & Sarigöllü, E (2012). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. Journal of Business Research, 65(1), 92-99. Read More