“Research In Motion downplayed their new ‘BeBold’ campaign Tuesday following a wave of negative reactions from the Internet,” FOX News reports.
“RIM on Monday introduced four new cartoon superheroes who will help the company spread the word about its products as it looks to regain traction in a market increasingly dominated by rivals Apple and Google,” FOX News reports. “But following nearly universal criticism, RIM quickly backtracked, noting that the infographic campaign was simply intended to ‘be a bit of fun.'”
FOX News reports, “The original image displayed four cartoon superheroes dubbed ‘the Bold Team.’ Gogo Girl can save the day with her ‘brilliant strategy, a smile or a spatula,’ Max Stone is ‘tough, proud and a little wild,’ Justin Steele is ‘always ready to stick up for his friends’ and Trudy Foreal is ‘not afraid to call it as she sees it.'”
“The company encouraged users to share their 2012 resolutions with the hashtag, #BeBold,” FOX News reports. “Instead, users poked fun at what they considered a silly campaign, given the company’s lagging technological competitiveness.”
Full article with beleaguered RIM’s info graphic here.
MacDailyNews Take: Spiraling down the bowl with a flourish!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “greg103” for the heads up.]
I like their strategy, I like it a lot!
Oh, me too! I note that one of the superheroes is “Justin Steele,” who is “always ready to stick up for his friends.”
Is that a sly reference to
” rel=”nofollow”>Justin Long?
I think not!
It’s nice that RIM is backtracking. OMG
” rel=”nofollow”>what a FAIL that campaign is.
Maybe RIMM’s strategy should be licensing the use of RIMM BlackBerry products in comics; since its the only place they’d be useful. They’d fit right in, their products are already a joke. 🙂
Is RIM launching a breakfast cereal?
+1
Mal: Wheel never stops turning, Badger.
Badger: That only matters to the people on the rim.
– Firefly
Sad really…
“ZLOTT!”
“THWAPP!”
“SOCK!’
“POW!”
“CRASH!”
Batmannnn… Batmannn… BATMANNN!, Batman!, Batmannnn!….
http://www.batmania.com.ar/paginas/serie_onomatopeyas.htm
It seems as if they are hell bent to drive down stock prices even further.
This is incredibly silly. I can’t believe a marketing director would approve such a campaign for a product line that is meant to be business centered.
On the other hand, it may be a poor attempt to morph into more of a consumer device for the “average” person. Who knows with RIM!
Wow… just wow. Who’d have imagined they could have fallen so far, so fast?
RIMM must employ Ballmer as a PR consultant.
superheroes won’t save RIM, man they need Jesus.
Looks like the cartoon kids from Burger King.
RIM, please give it up. The Blackberry will never be hip. Never. It will always be “the thing Dad used at work”. All the marketing in the world won’t change that.
Just give it up. You’re embarrassing yourself.
——RM
After seeing what the robots did for Motorola, I can see what they were going after.
I’m sure they cooked up this campain before Android fell into a death spiral.
So this is what “amateur time is over” means?
Amateur hour is not over. It has been raised to a new level.
…or lowered to a new level.
The idiots at RIM actually believe that its about marketing, not product.
Even if that were true, which it isn’t, this is an appallingly weak marketing play.
How did these f**kwits get the Blackberry going in the first place?
I guess it was just a cheap phone with a message system that has zero relevance in a modern smartphone environment.
RIM is so out of touch, they don’t even realize the stereotyping they’ve done with their “superheroes”.
That was my first thought when I read “Gogo Girl can save the day with her ‘brilliant strategy, a smile or a spatula”.
Oh boy, the feminists would have a field day with that one.
Agreed…sounds like Gogo Girl , who can save the day with her ‘brilliant strategy, a smile or a spatula,’ comes across as a intelligent woman whose tools are not her business acumen but rather being sluttish or if that doesn’t work, she’ll win you over with her meatloaf.
Sheeesh….
She also must be old if she is doing the GoGo. Even more dependent on making a good meatloaf……
What a lot of people here don’t seem to realise is that teenagers love BlackBerries, both for the keypad, which for teens who’ve grown up texting at high speed on dumb phones, and adapt easily to texting on a proper QWERTY pad, and also the the inherent security of BBM. The recent inner-city riots in England were co-ordinated via BBM, because it was opaque to law enforcement trying to control groups of agitators and looters who could just appear seemingly out of nowhere.
Such people are going to be utterly indifferent at best, openly mocking at worst to such juvenile advertising.
If this doesn’t work, maybe it’ll be Hello Kitty or My Little Pony next.
The marketing of the ignorant and the desperate.
The really sad thing is some advertising agency actually though this was a good idea too.
Oh superheroes need super apps. This’ll appeal to the Xbox and droid crowds that identify with avatar identities.
Well….at least they are ‘thinking different’
I see RIM is adhering to Federal Law, Title 17, which requires as follows:
All interstate commercial communications depicting individuals below the age of 18 shall show the race or ethnicities as follows:
• One depicted: Shall be a negro (black).
• Two depicted: Shall be one negro (black) and one caucasian (white)
• Three depicted: Shall be one negro (black), one caucasian (white), and one hispanic.
• Four depicted: • Shall be one negro (black), one caucasian (white), one hispanic, and one asian.
• Five depicted: • Shall be one negro (black), one caucasian (white), one hispanic, one asian, and another white child, but he must be a redhead with freckles that makes you wanna kick him.
Yaaay for RIM for adhering to the law.
ROTFL!
The old adage: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
And how tasteful. I take one look, and all I can think of is terrible perversion.
Hey, i’m a dad and I refuse to use a Blackberry at work. I mean it is bad enough for my self esteem to work with win xp.
Takes me back to Microsoft Mac BU’s Zipie and Zoe!
MacDailyNews Take: Spiraling down the bowl with a flourish!
Maybe for RIMM’s last act they should use ‘Scrubbing Bubbles!’ 🙂
“Gogo Girl…”? The genius who named these characters must be the same person who names RIM products.
I’ve got a marketing idea for you, RIM. THINK BOLD. It would be a montage of famous people who were, you know, “bold.” Get Richard Dreyfuss to do the voiceover.
2 friends who’ve used BBs since the 90s can’t hardly wait for the iPhone 5 so they can dump their BBs.
These were guys who loved BBs just 4 years back and swore they’ld never switch.
The world moves on.
Every time I hear someone say “Apple is all marketing, they are just great marketers,” I silently say, “Yes, keep telling yourself that.”
Today we see RIM reaping the rewards of thinking that they can be successful, like Apple, by just marketing harder.
I really liked this Engadget take on th e”HEROS” from RIM:
From left to right: there’s GoGo Girl, who “saves the day with a brilliant strategy” (translation: we don’t have a strategy). Then comes Justin Steele, who’s “always ready to stick up for his friends” (translation: we don’t have friends). Trudy Foreal “isn’t afraid to call it as she sees it” (translation: our shareholders are complaining). Finally, the adventurous Max Stone is “able to jump out of a plane” (translation: we’re going to crash).
god yes — they do should have listen more carefully
to Steve Balmer.
developers – developers – developers – I like their plan a lot too – but they forgot the developers !!!!!
Haven’t RIM learnt from Motorola ads’ fiasco, pinning its ads on pure flamboyant and exuberant fantasy? People soon found out that they could not fly, or have the attributes of droids doing superhuman daydreaming. Apple’s ads is on practical, real-life solutions. And people found out that the iPhone delivers on all its claims.
Refresh my memory….. Who is the target audience? Elementary school children?
I think RIM can make these characters as a continuation of the Cartoon Network’s TEEN TITANS.