Written assignment Unit 1 – BUS 5112

Using 4 P’s of Marketing to evaluate the Marketing Strategy for Blackberry

Key2 LE (Limited Edition)

Baiju Raval

20
Blackberry has enjoyed a great reputation in the past among Canadian consumers. But after years

of competition from iPhone/ Android, blackberry has lost a lot of Market Share and is no longer

the incumbent in the Canadian market. Blackberry has had to adjust its marketing strategy to

cope with this changing reality1. Blackberry has created the KEY 2 LE, its latest android smart

phone that sports the venerable physical Blackberry keyboard and various other productivity

features.

We are going to focus our discussion on Blackberry’s latest product offering, the KEY 2 LE

(Limited Edition) in Canada. Specifically I plan to review the marketing strategy employed for

the KEY 2 LE using the 4 P’s method, using these tools to come up with a value proposition

statement for this product2. The 4 P’s of Marketing are:-

a. Product

b. Promotion

c. Place

d. Price

I will also discuss how marketing strategy has evolved over the years to better compete in an

evolving Canadian market place where Blackberry is no longer the incumbent2.

Product:-

Blackberry announced their partnership with the Chinese phone maker TCL to make the new

generation of Smartphone’s. Instead of using a proprietary software, they have used Android as

the operating system. This ensures that the new phone has access to all the Apps that today’s user

likes and loves. This doesn’t mean that the phone doesn’t have the Blackberry touch. Blackberry

has worked hard to bring everything that users loved like the Blackberry Messenger Service, the
iconic keyboard and the Blackberry HUB to the KEY 2 LE. Blackberry’s strategy has evolved

and they are trying a 2 pronged approach here3. They using an iconic design and an operating

system used by the majority of the population to appeal to a new, younger generation of smart

phone users that are not necessarily familiar with the Blackberry Brand name. But at the same

time, it is trying to retain its die-hard fans by making their transition to the new product

seamless. This is a tough feat to accomplish, but this would mean opening the product to a new

client base while also enticing the old customers to upgrade3.

Promotion:-

Blackberry has always had a great name in Enterprise security. Their email and messenger

service are extremely secure forms of communications that are still being used by many

companies and governments across the globe. With KEY 2 LE Blackberry has leveraged this

reputation to separate their Product from others on the market by offering monthly security

updates for all their products. This intangible service offering only available for Smart Phones

made by Blackberry, adds extra value to the tangible product offering and helps entice the

corporate customers2,4.

Place:-

In Canada, Blackberry has usually sold in large retailers like Staples and Walmart or with major

cellphone carriers with plans. However, after the agreement with TCL, Blackberry has also

started selling their products on their website and online retailers like Amazon and Alibaba. This

is sure to expand the customer base and make more users aware of the unique value offered by

the product. The move to the online marketplace will save a lot of costs for the struggling smart
phone maker and allow them the flexibility to offer unique services to further enhance their

product offering.

Price:-

The price is one of the most important factor for this device. This device specifically targets

professionals who are looking to get the maximum value out of the product. With iPhone

extremely entrenched in the corporate space, Blackberry has decided to launch with a

significantly lower price than its competition for this handset. The handset will be available for

$519 CAD for the 32 GB variant and $599 CAD for the 64 GB variant5. Compare this to the 64

GB iPhone X which launched in Canada as the price of $1319 CAD6. By launching the product

at half the cost, Blackberry wants to ensure that its product appeals to the price conscious

consumers who want the maximum bang for their buck. Blackberry has continued to offer

various discounts to further enhance the value of its product.

Unique Value Proposition Statement for the product has been built using the principles outlined

in this excellent visual guide from Harvard Business School7.

(Unique Value Proposition - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness - Harvard Business

School, 2015)

With KEY 2 LE, Blackberry has combined a unique design, its iconic physical keyboard and

the legendary reputation for security to offer a great device running on the Android Operating

system which costs less than half when compared to the competition. Blackberry plans to

enhance the value of this product with the promise of regular monthly security updates.

References

1. McNish, J., & Silcoff, S. (2016). Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the

Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry (Reprint ed.). Flatiron Books.

2. The University of Minnesota. (2010). Principles of marketing. Licensed under Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0.
• Chapter 1 – What is Marketing? You will learn the core concepts of marketing.
• Chapter 2 – Strategic Planning. Explains the development of marketing strategies
and plans. You will learn about the role of strategic planning and how to create
innovative marketing
3. Chhabra, S. (2018, November 21). BlackBerry KEY2 LE Review: Anything you can do, I can

do too. MobileSyrup. https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/11/20/blackberry-key2-le-review/

4. BlackBerry Mobile | CA - Official Website. (2020). BlackBerry Mobile | Canada - Official

Website. https://blackberrymobile.com/ca/

5. Daley, D. (2018, September 24). BlackBerry KEY2 LE will be available in Canada this

September. MobileSyrup. https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/08/30/blackberry-key2-le-

canada-specs-pricing/

6. Ng, G. (2017, November 3). Apple’s iPhone X Launches in Canada. IPhone in Canada

Blog. https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/iphone-x-launches-

canada/#:%7E:text=iPhone%20X%20is%20priced%20at,minimum%20%2495%20per%20

month%20plan.

7. Unique Value Proposition - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness - Harvard

Business School. (2015). Harvard Business School.

https://www.isc.hbs.edu/strategy/creating-a-successful-strategy/pages/unique-value-

proposition.aspx#:%7E:text=Unique%20Value%20Proposition,will%20create%20for%2

0its%20customers.&text=While%20the%20value%20chain%20focuses,demand%20side

%20of%20the%20business.