Award-winning singer-songwriter and entrepreneur, Alicia Keys actively participates in the business activities of Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), and she is expected to give a PowerPoint Presentation during the upcoming Blackberry employee summit, according to the company’s CMO Frank Boulben. Ms. Keys serves as global creative director for Blackberry,
The Canadian smartphone manufacturer appointed Ms. Keys after indicating her interest and confidence in the device and its technology. Thorstein Heins, CEO of Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) emphasized in his previous statement that Ms. Keys will work closely with app developers, content creators, retailers, carriers, and the entertainment community as global creative director for Blackberry.
During the Ad Age Digital Conference, Boulben told Ad Age that Ms. Keys title as global director is not superficial. The singer-songwriter is not just a mere endorser for Blackberry. According to him, the company’s business decisions reflect Ms. Key’s contribution particularly on its new brand. Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) aims to inform people that Blackberry’s image is cool and professional.
According to Boulben, the primary objective of the Canadian smartphone manufacturer for Backberry is to become the third most popular mobile platform in the United States. He does not accept the idea that it would take years for Blackberry to be able to challenge the products of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930). Data from COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) showed that its market share dropped significantly from 30.4 percent in January 2011 to 5.9 percent in January this year.
Boulben does not think that Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is a challenger brand. He emphasized that Blackberry remains the most popular smartphone in emerging markets such as East Asia and South Africa. The company plans to release a wide range of products for consumers in developing countries. According to Boulbem, non-Western markets are more advanced than Western markets in many ways when it comes to using mobile computing. For example, he said that in Indonesia, taxi drivers post their Blackberry Messenger PINs on their cars instead of phone numbers.
According to him, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is still focused on boosting its market share in the United States. He cited that the company changed its marketing strategy over the past five years. The company shifted marketing towards digital, social, search, and mobile. The company also hired celebrities to promote its new platform and devices.
The stock of Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is trading around $14 per share, up by nearly 1 percent o Wednesday afternoon.
