BlackBerry's (BB) growth graph underwent some noteworthy changes since Indians first began using the smart phone. Year 2010, in particular, contributed to pushing it higher. Last year, the smart phone maker came up with a smart move. It introduced lower-end variants for consumers who were young but could not afford expensive phones. It changed young India's way of looking at themselves and their peers. Blackberry's approach to the young rode on the BB Messenger (BBM).
When it was launched, BB was the gadget that helped corporate honchos organise their schedule better, stay connected to one another and avail official emails and other internet resources instantly. This year, however, the BB's TG expanded beyond expectations. What began as a high-end premium product found its way into the restless, enthusiastic hands of India's vast pool of youth. Today, the BB is as much a gadget of the youth as it is an official phone.
The youth took to BBM with unbridled enthusiasm. Just look at how many teens, tweens and young adults have furnished the 'About Me' section of their Facebook pages with their eight character-long BB Pin Numbers. This enables other BB owners to connect with them and find a place on their instant chat-list. This section used to be one where users of the social networking site could write a few words that described them best and gave those who visited their page some insight about the person, his likes, dislikes and core personality traits. Instead, BB-obsessed addicts merely put up their Pin, a seemingly dry, alphanumeric, sometimes only numeric string of letter and numbers.
On the creative front, brand BB gave the advertising industry something to talk about when it awarded its creative mandate to Orchard Advertising. The brand's media duties lie with Starcom MediaVest. Though the brand is not too active on the communication front, it has managed to expand seamlessly. In the recent past, the brand made some noise with an ad film that floated the catchphrase, "Do what you love, love what you do". This happened to be the first time BB - which relies on word-of-mouth communication - rolled out any big advertising message in the TV space.
Service provider Vodafone took note of the youth-slant and launched a much-talked about advertising campaign that attempted to position the phone as a device not just for uptight executives, but also for trendy youngsters who checked their emails and 'pinged' their friends every twenty seconds. The campaign titled BlackBerry Boys was created by Vodafone's creative agency, Ogilvy India. The campaign served to push Vodafone's BlackBerry service plans for its prepaid customers in India at affordable prices. While premium variants such as the BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry Bold did well, the brand's affordable products such as the BlackBerry Curve also grew increasingly popular.
The Messenger was used in various other ways. UTV World Movies, for instance, launched a special BlackBerry Messenger to reach out to cinema fans across India and provide easy access to a range of content on world cinema. UTV World Movies used BBM as a platform to discuss world cinema, share related information and execute interactive contests with its users.
BB has had a good time, barring the run-in with the government about access rights. According to brand consultant Ashok Dhingra, BlackBerry has evolved into an iconic, cult brand in 2010, so much so that it makes Nokia look outdated. He however claims that the marketing strategy followed by BB is exactly the same as that of Nokia. "Nokia used to come up with new innovations and premium variants every now and then, milk them for a while and then drop the price of its previous variants. BB is doing that now," he elaborates, adding that it has helped the brand percolate to all sections of society.
Source: http://www.afaqs.com/news/story.html?sid=29293_BlackBerry+-+Getting+younger+with+time
About INgene blog : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog
About INgene : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog:
This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.
The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.
Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.
This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.
The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.
Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment