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  • RIM’s “Wake Up” Campaign Reaches A Stirring Anti-Climax

    You may remember the peculiar “WAKE UP” marketing stunt pulled by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion about a week ago in Australia. If not, here’s a quick refresher: a big black bus emblazoned with the phrase “WAKE UP” on the side pulled up outside an Apple Store in Sydney and disgorged a crowd of black-clad protesters who stood outside the store shouting “WAKE UP” and holding black signs that said (you guessed it) “WAKE UP.”

    Initial blame for the stunt – which most agreed was pretty ridiculous – fell on Samsung. After all, Samsung is Apple’s biggest competitor, and has a history of ripping Apple in its commercials. Samsung, however, denied having any part of the stunt. A little more digging pointed a finger at RIM.

    After another day or so of speculation, RIM confirmed that they were, in fact, behind the campaign. They promised that the counter on the Wake Up Australia was leading up to a “reveal” that was designed “to provoke conversation on what ‘being in business’ means to Australians.”

    Well, that counter was set to expire yesterday, May 6th, and RIM’s big “reveal” is now available for your viewing pleasure. What is it, you ask? Is it a new BlackBerry 10 smartphone? The PlayBook 2? Some awesomely impressive business-related service that will bring RIM back from the edge of ruin? Well, if you were to head over to the original Wake Up Australia website today, you would be redirected to a different site: wakeupbebold.com. Once there, a speech given by a man with an Australian accent starts playing and scrolling up your screen. This grand speech, it turns out, is RIM’s big “reveal.” Check it out below:

    WAKE UP

    It’s time to mean business.

    Now before you go looking for your suit and briefcase, we’re not talking about that kind of business.

    Business is no longer just a suit-wearing, cubicle-sitting, card-carrying kind of pursuit.

    These days being ‘in business’ means you’re the kind of person who takes action and makes things happen.

    You don’t just think different… you do different.

    It’s a simple choice:

    You’re either here to leave your mark and eat opportunity for breakfast

    OR

    You’re satisfied to just float through life like a cork in the stream.

    Now, we know some people will choose to float on by and that’s fine.

    Being in business is not for everyone, but unfortunately… there is no middle ground. You’re either in business or you’re not.

    For those of us with our eyes wide open, we need to realise there’s only one device for people who mean business… the brand that’s been in business from the very beginning.

    Wake Up. Be Bold.
    BlackBerry

    Yep. That’s it. Clicking pretty much anywhere on the page after that takes you to BlackBerry’s Australian website. No new products, no major announcements, no persuasive rhetoric about why BlackBerry is better than the iPhone or Android, no actual facts about RIM’s products at all. Just that speech, with it’s not-so-subtle dig at Apple (“You don’t just think different…”), and a link to a BlackBerry website that is almost identical to the one that was up on Friday.

    It’s hard not to be unkind about this whole stunt, because frankly, it’s pretty ridiculous. RIM has sunk unknown thousands of dollars into a PR stunt that is almost guaranteed to accomplish absolutely nothing. RIM’s problem isn’t that people don’t know their products exist, and it isn’t that people don’t associate their products with business. If that were the problem, then this campaign might have helped. RIM’s problem, though, is that the products they make are considered passé and inferior to the iPhone (and Android). That can’t be fixed by a pointless PR stunt. If this had been the lead-up to the launch of the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone, it might have made sense. But it didn’t lead up to anything. It’s just a little spiel about how business-y BlackBerry is. Heck, if they had even linked to a page that talked about why, specifically, BlackBerry was better for business than the iPhone, even that might have been something. But they didn’t do that either.

    Ultimately, it’s hard to imagine that this little gimmick actually accomplished anything at all.

    What do you think of RIM’s Wake Up campaign? Does it make you more interested in using BlackBerry products? What does it accomplish? Let us know in the comments.

  • RIM Admits Responsibility For “WAKE UP” Campaign

    BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has admitted that they were behind the “WAKE UP” protest outside a Sydney, Australia Apple Store last week. Initial reports linked the campaign to Samsung, which will be unveiling their Galaxy S III smartphone at the end of this week. Samsung, however, denied responsibility. Further digging into the source code for the campaign’s Wake Up Australia website uncovered evidence that RIM might have been the culprit.

    According to a report by The Age, RIM representatives in Australia have confirmed that they were responsible for the WAKE UP campaign, “which involves a series of experiential activities taking place across Sydney and Melbourne.”

    Though there was speculation that Australian blogger Nate “Blunty” Burr, who happened to be at the Apple Store when the protest was staged, might have been in RIM’s employ. He has done work for RIM in the past, including an extremely favorable review of the BlackBerry PlayBook. The company’s representatives denied that he was paid to be there. It’s worth noting that they do not say whether he was asked to be there, or forewarned that something would be happening at the Apple Store at that time. Burr’s video of the protest has featured prominently in coverage of the event.

    While initial reports suggested that the counter on the Wake Up Australia website might be leading up to Samsung’s announcement of the Galaxy S III, further investigation found that the counter would not run out on May 3rd, when Samsung is set to unveil the device. Further speculation suggested that perhaps the counter was leading up to the Australian launch of the device. In fact, according to RIM’s representatives, the counter is actually leading up to the launch of the BlackBerry 10 operating system, a “reveal” that is designed “to provoke conversation on what ‘being in business’ means to Australians.”

    When the campaign was thought to be Samsung’s doing, it was widely regarded as a fairly ridiculous stunt, but not terribly out of character for Samsung. It was seen as being an especially bizarre manifestation of the company’s peculiar fixation on its rival. The fact that RIM is actually behind the campaign puts a new and, frankly, rather sad perspective on the whole situation. The fact that it didn’t occur to anybody that RIM might be behind it shows a couple of things: first, this kind of stunt is way out of character for RIM, and hardly seems consistent with their stated intention to refocus on the business segments of the consumer market. Second, it shows that the majority of people don’t consider RIM in the same league as Apple anymore. When we began casting around for a culprit, Samsung made sense in large part because they are Apple’s chief competitor (and may be the top smartphone maker in the world). Once Samsung disavowed the campaign, though, still no one thought of RIM, because RIM isn’t a major competitor for Apple anymore.

    The simple fact is, RIM is in major trouble. The consumer smartphone revolution that was begun by Apple in 2007 and accelerated by Android in 2008 caught them completely off guard, and they have never managed to recover. The BlackBerry platform has suffered massive losses in market share to iOS and Android, even being passed by the iPhone in Canada, where RIM is based.

    The BlackBerry 10 operating system, which is set to release soon, is essentially the company’s last, best hope. Numerous products that have been designed to compete with iOS and Android have been unsuccessful – including the BlackBerry Torch and the PlayBook. If BlackBerry 10 is a success, it could bring RIM back from the edge of failure. If, on the other hand, it performs poorly, it could be the final nail in RIM’s coffin.

    The “WAKE UP” campaign is, it seems, intended to draw attention to BlackBerry 10, in hopes of drumming up interest in the platform before its launch. In the context of RIM’s recent performance, though, it smacks of desperation. What’s more, when the campaign was thought to be Samsung’s doing, I suggested that insulting the customer base that you’re trying to woo might not be the best marketing strategy. The fact that RIM is behind the campaign makes that issue all the more important. Samsung can afford to pick on Apple fans. RIM can’t. Whether BlackBerry 10 succeeds or fails, this campaign isn’t likely to do RIM any favors.

    Is this campaign a good move for RIM? Would you be more likely to try a BlackBerry 10 smartphone after being told to wake up by a bunch of shouting protesters? Can BlackBerry 10 manage to save RIM’s bacon? Let us know what you think in the comments.

  • RIM May Be Responsible For “Wake Up” Flashmob

    Last week we brought you a peculiar story about a flashmob protest that took place outside an Apple Store in Australia. It seems that a group of black-clad protesters pulled up outside the store in a black bus with “WAKE UP” emblazoned on the side and stood outside the store holding black “WAKE UP” signs and chanting “WAKE UP.”

    At the time, it was widely believed that Samsung was behind the campaign. Samsung has a history of taking shots at Apple fans, so it didn’t seem much of a stretch to think that they might be behind this protest. The protest drew a lot of confused criticism, and was widely regarded as pretty ridiculous.

    That it was a marketing stunt and not a legitimate protest was made pretty clear in a blog post by Mumbrella, which discovered the Wake Up Australia website and traced it to a marketing agency called Tongue (formerly New Dialogue). The page consists of the phrase “WAKE UP” above a counter that appears to be counting down toward May 6th, three days after the London unveiling of the Galaxy S III.

    The day after the news broke, though, Samsung denied having anything to do with it. That left us with a burning question: if Samsung wasn’t behind this nonsense, then who was?

    Well, the answer appears – appears – to be BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. After Samsung’s denial James Croft of MacTalk, did a little more digging. He looked through the source code for the Wake Up Australia website, and found the following:

    http://fls.doubleclick.net/activityi;src=2215527;type=black822;);

    It seems that the “src=2215527” is an account identifier for Doubleclick. A Google search for that Doubleclick identifier brought up lots of different RIM Australia websites. While that doesn’t constitute ironclad proof, it’s a lot more solid than the Samsung theory, which was based mainly on the timing for that counter on the Wake Up Australia site, and Samsung’s weird infatuation with Apple. On top of the Doubleclick ID, MacTalk also points out that Nate Burr, the blogger who happened on-site when the protest began, has done work for RIM in the past, including a highly favorable review of the BlackBerry PlayBook prior to its Australian release.

    A request for comment sent to RIM has not yet been answered.

  • Samsung Disavows “Wake Up” Flash Mob Campaign

    You may recall that yesterday we ran a story about a flash mob that showed up outside an Apple Store in Australia. The group, dressed all in black, stood outside the store chanting “Wake Up,” holding black signs that said “Wake Up,” and arrived in a black bus with “Wake Up” emblazoned on the side.

    Interestingly, the group gave no hints as to what they were protesting or why. There was no indication of who, exactly, they wanted to wake up, nor what they wanted them to wake up from. A little digging by Mumbrella apparently linked the group to Samsung and the upcoming launch of its Galaxy S III smartphone.

    Samsung has a history of taking potshots at Apple fans in its advertising – even comparing them to sheep as recently as this week – so nobody had much trouble believing that they were behind the “Wake Up” campaign.

    Now, though, it appears that they might not have been behind the protest after all. According to SlashGear, Samsung has denied that they were responsible for the flash mob. According to a representative of Samsung, “Samsung Electronics Australia has nothing to do with the ‘Wake-Up Campaign.’”

    While its possible that Samsung is just distancing themselves from the campaign, which was generally regarded as a somewhat bizarre marketing ploy, it’s also entirely possible that they really didn’t have anything to do with it. That, of course, raises the question of who is really responsible. As yet no one has said what the group was protesting or why.

    In case you missed it yesterday, here’s a video of the protest, which was captured by Nate Burr. Check it out and let it us know what you think in the comments:

  • Samsung Hires Flash Mob To Protest Outside An Apple Store

    If you’ve seen many Samsung commercials, you’ve probably noticed a common theme: Samsung has a bit of a… fascination with Apple. The company can’t seem to release a commercial that doesn’t take at least a subtle (and usually a not-at-all subtle) shot not only at Apple but at Apple’s fans.

    Back in January Samsung released a commercial in which a group of disheveled Apple fans lamented that they’d been “Samsunged” when they discovered that the Galaxy S II had built-in navigation features. Another commercial during the Super Bowl took a similar approach (though wisely ditched the use of the word “Samsunged” in favor of a musical number by The Darkness). Most recently, the Samsung released a teaser for the Galaxy S III that subtly (well, more subtly than is normal for a Samsung commercial) compared iPhone users to sheep.

    Finally, earlier this week Samsung went beyond commercials and actually hired a mob of protesters to stand outside of an Apple Store in Australia dressed all in black and chant “Wake Up” while holding black signs that said “Wake Up.” They arrived outside the store in a large black bus that said… wait for it… “Wake Up.”

    By fortunate coincidence, Australian blogger Nate Burr happened to be present at the store and captured some of the protest on video (using his iPhone, presumably). Check out the video below:

    As you can tell from the video, no one on the scene was able to figure out exactly what they were supposed to “wake up” from. After a little digging, Australian blog Mumbrella managed to trace the campaign to a marketing agency called Tongue. Tongue is also responsible for the Wake Up Australia website, which consists of a counter counting down the seconds until May 6th (the anticipated launch date of the Galaxy S III in Australia).

    Interestingly Mumbrella also points to a report earlier in the week by The Daily Mail, who discovered a website called “tgeltaayehxt,” which is an anagram of “The Next Galaxy.” That sight counts down to the May 3 media event where Samsung will announce the Galaxy S III.

    Interestingly, both the invitation and the website found by the Daily Mail seem to refer to the phone as “the Next Galaxy,” rather than the Galaxy S III, as it’s widely been expected to be called. If you pay any attention to news concerning Apple products, that change in naming practices might sound familiar.

    Whether you love Apple or hate them, you’ve got to admit that Samsung’s fixation is a little weird, especially when you consider that insulting the very people to whom you’re trying to market your products is not usually an effective marketing strategy.

    What do you think? Is Samsung’s flash mob/protest a good marketing move, or not? Is Samsung a little to focused on making fun of Apple, or do Apple fans need to be taken down a peg? Sound off in the comments.