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    Unit 1 Written Assignment

    Uploaded by

    Baiju Raval
    Blackberry is evaluating the marketing strategy for its new smartphone, the Blackberry KEY2 LE, in the Canadian market. The author analyzes the phone's marketing strategy using the 4 P's framework - product, promotion, place, and price. For product, Blackberry is targeting both existing customers with its iconic keyboard as well as new, younger users with the Android operating system. It is promoting the phone's security features to appeal to business customers. Blackberry is selling the KEY2 LE both through traditional retailers and online marketplaces. At half the price of iPhones, Blackberry aims to offer the best value.

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    Unit 1 Written Assignment

    Uploaded by

    Baiju Raval
    517 views6 pages
    Blackberry is evaluating the marketing strategy for its new smartphone, the Blackberry KEY2 LE, in the Canadian market. The author analyzes the phone's marketing strategy using the 4 P's framework - product, promotion, place, and price. For product, Blackberry is targeting both existing customers with its iconic keyboard as well as new, younger users with the Android operating system. It is promoting the phone's security features to appeal to business customers. Blackberry is selling the KEY2 LE both through traditional retailers and online marketplaces. At half the price of iPhones, Blackberry aims to offer the best value.

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    BUS 5112 Marketing Management - University of the People.

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    Blackberry is evaluating the marketing strategy for its new smartphone, the Blackberry KEY2 LE, in the Canadian market. The author analyzes the phone's marketing strategy using the 4 P's framework - product, promotion, place, and price. For product, Blackberry is targeting both existing customers with its iconic keyboard as well as new, younger users with the Android operating system. It is promoting the phone's security features to appeal to business customers. Blackberry is selling the KEY2 LE both through traditional retailers and online marketplaces. At half the price of iPhones, Blackberry aims to offer the best value.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    517 views6 pages

    Unit 1 Written Assignment

    Uploaded by

    Baiju Raval
    Blackberry is evaluating the marketing strategy for its new smartphone, the Blackberry KEY2 LE, in the Canadian market. The author analyzes the phone's marketing strategy using the 4 P's framework - product, promotion, place, and price. For product, Blackberry is targeting both existing customers with its iconic keyboard as well as new, younger users with the Android operating system. It is promoting the phone's security features to appeal to business customers. Blackberry is selling the KEY2 LE both through traditional retailers and online marketplaces. At half the price of iPhones, Blackberry aims to offer the best value.

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    Written assignment Unit 1 – BUS 5112

    Using 4 P’s of Marketing to evaluate the Marketing Strategy for Blackberry


    Key2 LE (Limited Edition)

    Baiju Raval

    20
    Blackberry has enjoyed a great reputation in the past among Canadian consumers. But after years

    of competition from iPhone/ Android, blackberry has lost a lot of Market Share and is no longer

    the incumbent in the Canadian market. Blackberry has had to adjust its marketing strategy to

    cope with this changing reality1. Blackberry has created the KEY 2 LE, its latest android smart

    phone that sports the venerable physical Blackberry keyboard and various other productivity

    features.

    We are going to focus our discussion on Blackberry’s latest product offering, the KEY 2 LE

    (Limited Edition) in Canada. Specifically I plan to review the marketing strategy employed for

    the KEY 2 LE using the 4 P’s method, using these tools to come up with a value proposition

    statement for this product2. The 4 P’s of Marketing are:-

    a. Product

    b. Promotion

    c. Place

    d. Price

    I will also discuss how marketing strategy has evolved over the years to better compete in an

    evolving Canadian market place where Blackberry is no longer the incumbent2.

    Product:-

    Blackberry announced their partnership with the Chinese phone maker TCL to make the new

    generation of Smartphone’s. Instead of using a proprietary software, they have used Android as

    the operating system. This ensures that the new phone has access to all the Apps that today’s user

    likes and loves. This doesn’t mean that the phone doesn’t have the Blackberry touch. Blackberry

    has worked hard to bring everything that users loved like the Blackberry Messenger Service, the
    iconic keyboard and the Blackberry HUB to the KEY 2 LE. Blackberry’s strategy has evolved

    and they are trying a 2 pronged approach here3. They using an iconic design and an operating

    system used by the majority of the population to appeal to a new, younger generation of smart

    phone users that are not necessarily familiar with the Blackberry Brand name. But at the same

    time, it is trying to retain its die-hard fans by making their transition to the new product

    seamless. This is a tough feat to accomplish, but this would mean opening the product to a new

    client base while also enticing the old customers to upgrade3.

    Promotion:-

    Blackberry has always had a great name in Enterprise security. Their email and messenger

    service are extremely secure forms of communications that are still being used by many

    companies and governments across the globe. With KEY 2 LE Blackberry has leveraged this

    reputation to separate their Product from others on the market by offering monthly security

    updates for all their products. This intangible service offering only available for Smart Phones

    made by Blackberry, adds extra value to the tangible product offering and helps entice the

    corporate customers2,4.

    Place:-

    In Canada, Blackberry has usually sold in large retailers like Staples and Walmart or with major

    cellphone carriers with plans. However, after the agreement with TCL, Blackberry has also

    started selling their products on their website and online retailers like Amazon and Alibaba. This

    is sure to expand the customer base and make more users aware of the unique value offered by

    the product. The move to the online marketplace will save a lot of costs for the struggling smart
    phone maker and allow them the flexibility to offer unique services to further enhance their

    product offering.

    Price:-

    The price is one of the most important factor for this device. This device specifically targets

    professionals who are looking to get the maximum value out of the product. With iPhone

    extremely entrenched in the corporate space, Blackberry has decided to launch with a

    significantly lower price than its competition for this handset. The handset will be available for

    $519 CAD for the 32 GB variant and $599 CAD for the 64 GB variant5. Compare this to the 64

    GB iPhone X which launched in Canada as the price of $1319 CAD6. By launching the product

    at half the cost, Blackberry wants to ensure that its product appeals to the price conscious

    consumers who want the maximum bang for their buck. Blackberry has continued to offer

    various discounts to further enhance the value of its product.

    Unique Value Proposition Statement for the product has been built using the principles outlined

    in this excellent visual guide from Harvard Business School7.


    (Unique Value Proposition - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness - Harvard Business

    School, 2015)

    With KEY 2 LE, Blackberry has combined a unique design, its iconic physical keyboard and

    the legendary reputation for security to offer a great device running on the Android Operating

    system which costs less than half when compared to the competition. Blackberry plans to

    enhance the value of this product with the promise of regular monthly security updates.

    References

    1. McNish, J., & Silcoff, S. (2016). Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the

    Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry (Reprint ed.). Flatiron Books.

    2. The University of Minnesota. (2010). Principles of marketing. Licensed under Creative


    Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0.
    • Chapter 1 – What is Marketing? You will learn the core concepts of marketing.
    • Chapter 2 – Strategic Planning. Explains the development of marketing strategies
    and plans. You will learn about the role of strategic planning and how to create
    innovative marketing
    3. Chhabra, S. (2018, November 21). BlackBerry KEY2 LE Review: Anything you can do, I can

    do too. MobileSyrup. https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/11/20/blackberry-key2-le-review/

    4. BlackBerry Mobile | CA - Official Website. (2020). BlackBerry Mobile | Canada - Official

    Website. https://blackberrymobile.com/ca/

    5. Daley, D. (2018, September 24). BlackBerry KEY2 LE will be available in Canada this

    September. MobileSyrup. https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/08/30/blackberry-key2-le-

    canada-specs-pricing/

    6. Ng, G. (2017, November 3). Apple’s iPhone X Launches in Canada. IPhone in Canada

    Blog. https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/iphone-x-launches-

    canada/#:%7E:text=iPhone%20X%20is%20priced%20at,minimum%20%2495%20per%20

    month%20plan.

    7. Unique Value Proposition - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness - Harvard

    Business School. (2015). Harvard Business School.

    https://www.isc.hbs.edu/strategy/creating-a-successful-strategy/pages/unique-value-

    proposition.aspx#:%7E:text=Unique%20Value%20Proposition,will%20create%20for%2

    0its%20customers.&text=While%20the%20value%20chain%20focuses,demand%20side

    %20of%20the%20business.

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