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Topic: Mobility

Forget the NFL teams, RIM's BlackBerry made it to the Super Bowl for the first time

Summary: Apple and Samsung do a fabulous job of advertising for their mobile platforms. RIM is showing they are serious about getting back into the game with BB 10 and is going to have their first Super Bowl commercial this year.

Matthew Miller

By for Smartphones and Cell Phones |

Forget the NFL teams, RIM's BlackBerry made it to the Super Bowl for the first time

Next week at this time we will know all the details about RIM's BlackBerry 10 platform and I will have had some hands-on time with new devices at the New York event. So far, RIM looks to be doing everything they can to get excitement built up for their new OS and products and I just received a note that they will have their first ever Super Bowl commercial to complete a blockbuster week on Sunday, 3 February. 30-second ads costs an estimated $4 million for this year's Super Bowl.

I guess back in the day when it seemed most BlackBerry users were issued their phones at work there wasn't much need to advertise at the Super Bowl. RIM will have millions of football fans in the US and Canada watching the game and millions more going online later to view the commercials so they have a real opportunity to get the word out that they are getting back into the game.

In addition to the BlackBerry 10 commercial, RIM stated that they will be campaigning actively with pre and post-game on-site, digital and social activities, including real time engagement with BlackBerry social fans on Facebook and Twitter, as well as extending and amplifying exposure and fan engagement through Promoted Posts and Sponsored Story ads.

Frank Boulben, Chief Marketing Officer, Research In Motion, stated the following:

A Super Bowl commercial is a great opportunity to show the re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry to tens of millions of consumers on the largest advertising stage of the year. BlackBerry has 30 million social media fans, and we’re looking forward to continuing to encourage them and all NFL football fans to see the power of BlackBerry 10 for themselves.

I personally enjoy watching Super Bowl commercials and sure hope the one showing off the new BlackBerry 10 is a winner.

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Topics: Mobility, BlackBerry, Smartphones

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11 comments
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  • the new CEO

    The new CEO has said numerous times that he's all in for the new OS, I guess he really meant it, I hope they pull it off, frankly I'm tired of reading all the i-phone/android articles. We need a serious 3rd player in the game
    gordongr
    Reply Vote

  • the new CEO

    The new CEO has said numerous times that he's all in for the new OS, I guess he really meant it, I hope they pull it off, frankly I'm tired of reading all the i-phone/android articles. We need a serious 3rd player in the game
    gordongr
    Reply 1 Vote

    • It's only a matter of when

      It passes Windows Mobile/Phone in unit sales. being Windows Mobile/Phone is the number 6 Mobile OS.
      Troll Hunter J
      Reply 1 Vote

  • Will Microsoft have another awesome Surface ReTard commercial?

    Clicking, dancing, but no actual use of the product.
    toddbottom7
    Reply 2 Votes

    • Seriously

      Todd... seriously, buy yourself a life.
      gbouchard99@...
      Reply Vote

      • You have no retort

        Proving I am right....the only Surface ReTard commercial showing the product in use is a kid finger painting.

        Wow..Im sold.
        toddbottom7
        Reply Vote

        • My impression exactly

          When all Microsoft can do in showcasing Windows 8 on a touch-enabled home computer is a kid finger-painting, I thought "Wow, the world's most expensive Etch a Sketch". The second though was "Ok, Microsoft transformed home computers into the largest tablets around". Neither purpose impressed me at all.

          BlackBerry, on the other hand, takes the phone and transforms it into the most sophisticated computing device around that easily connects to other QNX devices turning the Q10 and Z10 smartphones into information and control central all the while providing the multimedia and entertainment functions most consumers seem to want.
          yvesmarchand@...
          Reply Vote

  • Uh Oh

    That's a lot of money to spend for an event that has a lot of viewers, true, but also a lot of tangential attention to the meta-data of the ads. Which one was funniest, which one was dumbest, etc. The marketing message gets lost. Plus, what does one say in 30 seconds about BB10 that makes the small portion of the audience who are about to get a new cellphone and who are not firmly committed to their next choice go "Wow. Hold those presses, I gotta get that!"?

    Let me ask you this, how much did the Super Bowl ad for Honeycomb move the needle a few years back? (Remember there was a bee flying through a museum looking at famous tablets through the centuries and pausing with true admiration at... well I don't remember whose tablet.) Or that Android ad where there was one guy and one gal who weren't wearing the color that everyone else monochromatically wore and how they found love through the cellphone rather than by opening their eyes and seeing THEY WEREN'T DRESSED LIKE THE REST?

    But, you know gentle reader, I'm a skeptic. This could work out fine and not be the big embarrassing losing bet of the mobile age.
    DannyO_0x98
    Reply Vote

    • well since i'll be watching the game anyway i might as well be on the looko

      well since i'll be watching the game anyway i might as well be on the lookout to see how clever or entertaining RIM can be or will they get the fail whale
      justmeonzdnet
      Reply Vote

  • Uh Oh is a little premature.

    DannyO, it really is just a commercial, not the defining moment of RIM's existence. There are many people who may try to spin this upcoming 30 second slot into a "make or break" event for the new BB10 phones, but they are usually just haters, or people who generally over-react to the smallest of things. As a BlackBerry fan, I am hoping for an excellent commercial, something both tasteful and humorous (humorous because I believe they are the most memorable), but as long as it increases the viewing publics awareness of the new BB10's, especially in the USA, I think it can be judged a success. And that shouldn't be that hard to accomplish given the size of the viewing audience.
    xenrobia
    Reply Vote

    • yeah

      I wish them well too. I know someone who is super loyal to BlackBerry
      justmeonzdnet
      Reply Vote
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