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Marketing Plan Project:

Blackberry

By Jonathan Demartimprey

Yosselin Gonzalez

Abigail Picar

Tianna Sjosten

Elijah Roe
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I. Executive Summary

A new product had been designed for Blackberry that functions as a cloud based storage

system that enables businesses to mobilize their company. The new product, BlackBerry Insure

Secure or BBIS, comes with the BlackBerry guarantee of security that consumers have come to

trust. BBIS uses two ways to access the data stored by BlackBerry creating additional security.

These two systems are a regular password access and a fingerprint access. This product will be

marketed to BlackBerrys existing customers in the fields of government, healthcare, and

financial services as well as other large firms. The plan is to sell through traditional avenues like

the BlackBerrys website and personal relationships. This product is scheduled to be released on

January 1, 2018. BBIS was created to give companies peace of mind that their data will be secure

and out of reach of criminals.

II. Company Description

BlackBerry was founded in 1985 by Mike Lazardis and Douglas Fregin. It was first

known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM), an electronics and computer science consulting

company. RIM, as BlackBerry was formally known, was the first wireless data technology

developer in North America that specialized in several wireless products, including point of sale

devices, radio modems, and the first two-way messaging pager. BlackBerry has since branched

out into many other technologies such as mobile phones, and multiple forms of software.

III. Mission and Goals

According to the BlackBerry Corporate Responsibility website, BlackBerry has

mentioned their goals and mission as follows:

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BlackBerry and its subsidiaries and affiliates are committed to offering the best

tools for communication and social collaboration and working towards

minimizing our environmental impact. BlackBerry strives to act responsibly and

expects the same of our partners and suppliers.

Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around

the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. In

addition to this, BlackBerry holds five key goals:

1. Corporate Citizenship: BlackBerry believes in giving back to the

communities in which they operate.

2. Public Policy and Government Relations: BlackBerry is committed to

promoting socially responsible public policy and conducting their business

in accordance with the laws and standards of the countries in which they

operate.

3. Sustainability at BlackBerry: BlackBerrys product sustainability team is

committed to reducing our environmental footprint and seeking

sustainable programs and policies at every stage in the life cycle of their

products.

4. Responsibility at Blackberry: BlackBerrys operations have a social,

environmental and economic impact. They take it seriously and dedicate

themselves to managing it responsibly.

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5. Supply Chain and Ethics: Their responsible supply chain management

team seeks, develops, and implements continuous improvement of

BlackBerrys supply chain social responsibility program.

This is BlackBerrys strategy taken out of their financial document: The Company has

been executing a strategy to leverage its strengths in mobility management and security to

refocus its business in the Enterprise Solutions and Services space, while maintaining a presence

in the highly competitive smartphone and devices market. This strategy includes increasing the

Companys product and service offerings through strategic acquisitions and targeted growth in

internal investments. The Companys goal is to maintain its market leadership in the enterprise

mobility Table of Contents 8 segment by continuing to extend the functionality of its enterprise

software infrastructure beyond EMM, to offer the most comprehensive and secure mobile

platform, and on top of this extensive foundation, deliver vertical solutions and endpoint

management in the IoT.

IV. Core Competencies

BlackBerry prides itself on having a mobile-first focus that allows their strengths of

security, reliability, and productivity to shine. Across all businesses, BlackBerry products and

services are widely recognized in the market for productivity and security, and the Company

believes that it delivers the most secure end-to-end mobile enterprise solutions in the market.

With these core strengths, the Companys broad portfolio of products and services is focused on

serving enterprise customers, particularly in regulated industries and select vertical markets,

including government, financial services, legal and healthcare.

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V. Situation Analysis

A. Internal Environment

BlackBerry has always been seen as a company who aims at business and

corporate levels. Then Apple and Samsung started to evolve with smartphone;

unfortunately, BlackBerry was unable to keep up with the advancements that their

competitors were producing. For a while BlackBerry employees had faith that

they would come out of the decline; however, over time they seem to start to lose

hope. This has reduced their morale and many have moved on from BlackBerry.

Some have been laid off due to a store closing, such as in Halifax

(http://www.ctvnews.com).

Through all the struggles, many still hold on to the hope to revive BlackBerry and

wish for their success. This hope does not come in vain; with a new CEO and

over 100 million users, they may have an uphill battle but there is a possibility

that an innovative and new product could revamp BlackBerry and bring them

back into competition.

B. Competitive Environment

Consumers have many brands to choose from, which creates a competitive

environment where the competition must be monitored in areas such as products,

distribution channels, prices and promotional efforts. The competitive

environment includes direct and indirect competitors that compete with the

consumers purchasing power. BlackBerry competes against other firms who

specialize in enterprise software such as IBM and Microsoft.

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C. Macro-environmental PEST analysis

1. Political/Legal Environment

North Americas political culture is fair and friendly in the phone

industry. In terms of the Indian security when trying to get the BlackBerry

into the Indian market, RIM faced a trade barrier: Indian security officials

demanded that the encryption used by the BlackBerry network is lowered

from 256 bits to 40 bit encryption. In addition to this, China and UAE

security issues over monitoring for government authorities.

US Patent office is involved in an action brought by a US

company (NTP), which is trying to ascertain that RIM infringed on some

1990 patent rights in the development of the BlackBerry. In terms of

Hygiene and safety standards for manufacturers, some European countries

such as the UK and Germany have strict regulations.

(www.witiger.com)

2. Economic Environment

In the economic environment, the demand is elastic and mostly

based on consumer income. As the need for security is constantly

growing, consumers are more willing to spend on a secure and large space

device with the new and improved features. Price sensitive markets like

China and India would have an effect on the fluctuating exchange rates.

3. Social/Cultural Environment
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Mobile communication devices for both consumers and businesses for

either work or personal utility of the product. The market is growing

towards smartphones as the demand for the devices is to have more

connectivity, access to data, and be multifunctional.

4. Technology Environment

Mobile communication device industry is a rapidly growing industry with

consistently new, improved, and innovative products, making the industry

an exceedingly competitive environment. In addition to this, technology

has advanced to the ability to access devices through the simple

fingerprint. For example, Apples iPhone fingerprint touch has become a

huge hit. Not only is the technology advancing, but so is the need for

security.

D. SWOT Analysis

Blackberry Limited Helpful Harmful

Internal Strengths Weakness

1. Some of the programs
they sell are very secure
making them very appealing
to important and prominent
people whose privacy is
important, for example,
President Obama
2. Emphasis on security for
everything
3. BlackBerry enterprise
software and services
1. Mobile phone section of business
2. Their BlackBerry 10 software
(their personal mobile software), there
are no apps for it
3. The company is too big, and has
their hand in too many pies
4. Poor marketing strategy
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External Opportunities Threats

1. Purchase companies that
add services
2. Expansion of their
enterprise services for the
public and private sector
3. Create a good marketing
strategy and make their
company accepted in the
market again
1. IPhones and other mobile devices
that are more popular
2. Technology changes and trends,
(Ex. Mobile web surfing)
3. Competition in government
contracts along the lines of their
enterprise software and services
business

VI. Competition

IBM (Direct)

IBM is a hardware and software line of business. Providing products or services

such as business servers, storage products, custom designed microchips, and

application software. IBM is one of the top competitors in the IT industry.

Founded in New York, 1911 coordinated by Charles Fint.

Microsoft (Direct)

Microsoft along with IBM is another top leading computer software company.

Microsoft provides products such as business servers, storage products, custom

designed microchips, and application software. Founded in New Mexico, 1975 by

Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

Nokia (Indirect)

Nokia is a company built in the telecommunications and computer software

industry. Providing wireless and fixed network infrastructures, communications

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and network service platforms including services for operators and providers.

Founded in Finland, 1865 by Fredrik Idestam, Leo Mechelin, and Eduard Polon.

Cumulocity (Indirect)

Cumulocity is a company which provides certified hardware kits, software

libraries, device management, data visualization and remote control functionality

through the web. In other terms Cumulocity is cloud-based subscription service.

Founded in California, 2010.

VII. Target Market

A. Description of market segment

BBIS market segment are companies and business professionals who value

security in terms of their files and data.

B. Percent of sales they represent

In 2011, 43% of all smartphones were BlackBerry in the Indonesia, and in 2014 it

shifted to 3%. In 2010, 6.1% of all smartphones in U.S. were BlackBerry, but in

2014 it shifted to 3.1%

What they want/ what they value

BBIS market values superior security, safety, and productivity for all their data

and files. They want a company that cares about the security of their consumers

data and who have built a reliable and trustworthy reputation.

C. How they would use the product

In using BBIS, the medium business would be able to access their important data

and files remotely through their phone, computer, or tablet; it would only require
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an authorized fingerprint to access the desired files and data. Specifically, the

management in the business would use BBIS.

D. How to best reach them

Awareness will be established through meet and greets with potential clients. The

current clientele will be offered the product through their company's

representative. Potential consumers will be emailed, or can find information

through BlackBerrys website, social media, and

E. Price sensitivity

BlackBerry customers typically are not price sensitive as they are mostly business

professionals and large firms that value security, functionality, and productivity

and are willing to pay for the security and reliability that BlackBerry products are

known for.

VIII. Marketing Mix

A. Product Strategy

To keep in the theme of security that BlackBerry is known for, we have developed

a product called BlackBerry Insure Secure or BBIS. We feel the products

advantages will be to add a second line of security defense for corporations and

small businesses, keeping their clients information secure. We want to add to the

software and technology that BlackBerry has been developing. With the use of

TouchID becoming widespread, we want to make greater use of this technology.

Therefore, our software will be a database that companies can input all
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information related to their clients with a peace of mind that the information is

secure.

Key benefits: This product would allow the medium business to access their

important data and files remotely through their phone, computer, or tablet. Adding

the fingerprint of the user into the mix will make the information more difficult to

hack and will give the business a peace of mind when implementing a mobile

access.

Quality: A unique software for BlackBerry phones with updates bi-weekly that

will update the look, security, and accessibility for the users. The look will be

updated to make it easier to navigate. The security will be updated through

changing the code used to identify the thumbprint. The accessibility update will

focus on improving the logging in and supply of the information stored.

B. Distribution Strategy

Since BlackBerry does not have any stores, BlackBerry Insure Secure will be sold

online through their website where the consumers can download the software online.

Therefore, BlackBerry will not need to rely on transportation and warehousing. Since the

orders will be downloaded from the website, the order fulfilment process will be direct as

soon as the software is purchased.

C. Promotion Strategy

BlackBerry will promote BBIS by sending out emails to current customers raising

awareness of this new software; in the email, a link to the website will be attached for the

convenience of the customers. In addition, the website will be updated to where the home
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page will promote BBIS for a certain amount of time. Their Facebook page will also have

details of this new software and the link to the website.

The message that we want to get across is that the new software will insure

security of a business database. This software will include the access of multiple users

within the business, in which all files and data can be stored and viewed as needed

without the fear of the information being hacked or compromised. Specifically in the

emails, website, and social media, BlackBerry will emphasize security through a database

by a concise, yet descriptive publication of BBIS. Because we only have one market, the

message will be one and the same.

D. Pricing Strategy

For our pricing strategy we will be selling the software for a flat price per unit to

the companies, then an annual upkeep fee. With the initial purchase, the company will be

given 10 gb of storage for each unit they purchase. The 10 gbs, however, are controlled

by the company and are interchangeable with other units (ex. phone#1 can have 5 gb

while phone #2 will have 15 gb). Whenever the company goes over the limit of storage

they will be able to chose to upgrade their overall storage with our upgrade options of

500 gb, 1tb, 2.5tb,10tb, and unlimited.

Initial purchase of software (2-year flat rate)

#Units $ Per Unit Total

50 $100 $5,000

100 $100 $10,000

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150 $100 $15,000

200 $100 $20,000

300 $90 $27,000

400 $80 $32,000

500+ $70 $35,000+

After 2 years (annual fee)

#Units $Per Unit Total

50 $25 $1,250

100 $25 $2,500

150 $25 $3,750

200 $25 $5,000

300 $20 $6,000

400 $15 $6,000

500+ $10 $5,000+

Extra storage (when increasing plan)

500 gb $1,500

1tb $2,500

2.5tb $5,000

10tb $15,000

Unlimited $20,000

IX. Budget, Schedule, and Monitoring - Budget

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The total budget for this product will be $5,000,000. The marketing research will be kept

under $2,000,000. The advertising budget will be kept under $1,500,000 because the channels to

bring it to the target market is already in existence all that needs to be done is to pay for the extra

time for the employees and the cost of including it into the website. The total cost of

development and testing of this program will be kept under $500,000. The follow up and support

for this program will be kept under $1,000,000.

For the first month it is expected to sell 20,000 units at the average price of $85 per unit,

which is a revenue of $1,700,000. The following 11 months it is expected to sell 5,000 units a

month with the average price of $90 per unit which is a revenue of $4,950,000. So the expected

yearly revenue for the first year will be $6,650,000.

The fixed cost for the production is $500,000. The cost per each unit cost will not cost us

anything extra on top of the fixed cost. In orders of 50 units the break even is 100 orders or 5000

units. In orders of 500 units the break even is about 15 orders or 7500 units.

The product will be announced in October of 2017, at the beginning of the fourth quarter,

but will be released on January 1, 2018 right before the tax year is up and the new accounting

year begins. For the first 3 years there will be a bi-weekly update, which will include server
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updates, new features, and new access coding. With release the servers will be able to handle

100,000 units load. After release they will monitor to see how many more we need and have

enough servers on stand-by to take another 100,000 in case of failure on any of the servers or

excess in purchases. In the chance that our product receives more than 100,000 units sold, we

will purchase more servers in order to handle the excess load.

X. Bibliography

"About BlackBerry." Enterprise Software. BlackBerry, 2016. Web. 14 May 2016.

<http://us.blackberry.com>.

BlackBerrys website, accessed on May 14, 2016, has a page available called,

About BlackBerry. The information on this page was useful for the project in

terms of confirming what was found in the article from The Telegraph about

BlackBerrys history. In addition, a bit of BlackBerrys goal and mission is found

on the About BlackBerry page.

Blackberry. (2016). AccessScience. doi:10.1036/1097-8542.086300. Web. 14 May 2016.

<http://us.blackberry.com>.

This PDF was last accessed on May 14, 2016. This large PDF file, under the

United States Securities and Exchange Commision, is about the annual report

pursuant to section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The

only information in this 138 page file that was relevant to our project were the

information about the products and why they are unique, their financial goals, and
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their competitors. Essentially, this file helped determined more of the financial

areas of the project, specifically BlackBerrys potential possibilities for growth,

profit goals, and their position in the marketplace in comparison to its

competitors.

"Corporate Responsibility." Enterprise Software. BlackBerry, 2016. Web. 12 May 2016.

<http://us.blackberry.com>.

BlackBerrys website, known as Enterprise Software, has a page about the

corporate responsibility. Essentially, BlackBerry lays out their goals as a company

on this online page. In terms of the project, the information provided by

BlackBerrys website page was accessed on May 12, 2016 and was helpful in

understanding their company mission and goals. Unfortunately, they did not

provide their financial goals no this page, but they did present in depth

information about their non-financial goals. They particularly emphasized global

growth, as the print is larger, bold, and in a purple color compared to the rest of

the goals outlined.

"Income Statement." SpringerReference (2015): n. pag. Enterprise Software. BlackBerry,

2015. Web. 14 May 2016. <http://us.blackberry.com>.

This BlackBerry investor relations income statement summary was originally in

print but was available online. It was last observed on May 14, 2016. This income

statement provided BlackBerrys revenue, cost of sales, gross profit, operating

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expenses, operating income, net income, earning per share, and the

weighted-average number of common shares outstanding. This descriptive

information was relevant to the project in terms of the section about the company

budget. It also provided enough information to make calculations to determine

BlackBerrys budget for this new product, BBIS.

Marlow, Iain. Lack of Global Knowledge Cost BlackBerry Indonesia. The Globe and

Mail. Philip Crawley, 3 November 2014. Web. 14 May 2016.

<http://www.theglobalandmail.com>.

Iain Marlows article, Lack of Global Knowledge Cost BlackBerry Indonesia,

was found on the website called The Globe and Mail. It was last observed on May

14, 2016. Marlows article provided information about BlackBerrys market share

in Indonesia. It displayed the percentage of Indonesia sales in comparison to U.S.

sales. This article was relevant to the section section in the paper about the target

market.

Mojave Media Group. "A Brief History of the BlackBerry." Bright Hub. Bright Hub

Media, 14 Oct. 2009. Web. 12 May 2016. <http://www.brighthub.com>.

Bright Hubs article, A Brief History of the BlackBerry, was last edited by Lina

Richter but written by Mojave Media Group. This article was also accessed on

May 12, 2016. In terms of the relevance to the project, this article provided
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insightful historical information about the company, BlackBerry. Specifically, this

article helped answer much of the company description section of this project.

Percentage of U.S. Population that own a Android Smartphone. The Statistics Portal.

Statista, 2016. Web. 12 May 2016. <http://www.statista.com>.

Statistas Percentage of U.S. Population that own a Android Smartphone was

last accessed on May 12, 2016. The information on this website was relevant to

the Target Market section in the paper, because it helped provided the percentage

of sales for the Android.

Percentage of U.S. Population that own a BlackBerry smartphone from 2010 to 2014.

The Statistics Portal. Statista, 2016. Web. 12 May 2016.

<http://www.statista.com>.

Statistas Percentage of U.S. Population that own a BlackBerry smartphone from

2010 to 2014 was last accessed on May 12, 2016. It was relevant to the project in

terms of determining the percentage of U.S. BlackBerry sales. It particularly

helped answer the section in the project about the core competencies, target

market, competition, and the budget, schedule, and monitoring.

Rouse, Margaret. IBM (International Business Machines). TechTarget. TechTarget,

November 2006. Web. 12 May 2016. <http://www.techtarget.com>.

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Margaret Rouses article, IBM (International Business Machines), was found on

the website called TechTarget. It was last accessed on May 12, 2016. Rouses

article provided information about IBM, one of BlackBerrys direct competitors.

Therefore, the information served as a guide to the section in the paper about

BlackBerrys competition.

Rouse, Margaret. Microsoft. TechTarget. TechTarget, January 2007. Web. 14 May

2016. <http://www.techtarget.com>.

Margaret Rouses article, Microsoft, was found on the website called

TechTarget. It was last accessed on May 14, 2016. Rouses article provided

information about Microsoft, another one of BlackBerrys direct competitors. The

information allowed us to evaluate how BlackBerry is positioned in the market

place compared to their direct competitor.

"The History of BlackBerry: In Pictures." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group

Limited, n.d. Web. 14 May 2016. <http://www.telegraph.com>.

The Telegraphs online article called, The History of BlackBerry: In Pictures,

provided historical information about BlackBerry and was accessed on May 14,

2016. The information was useful for the section about the company description.

Specifically, the article revealed BlackBerrys startup team, Mike Lazardis and

Douglas Fregin, and presented what BlackBerry has been known for.
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Tutton, Michael. BlackBerry Dream Fades in Halifax, Leaving Unemployed Workers

Struggling. CTV News. The Canadian Press, 14 December 2013. Web. 14 May

2016. <http://www.ctvnews.ca>.

Michael Tuttons article, BlackBerry Dream Fades in Halifax, Leaving

Unemployed Workers Struggling, was found on the website called, CTV News. It

was last accessed on May 14, 2016. The information on this website was helpful

for the situational analysis, specifically the internal environment.

Richardson, Prof. W. Tim G. The Political/Legal/Regulatory Environment. WITiger.

Canadian Press, 10 February 2011. Web. 12 May 2016.

<http://www.witiger.com>.

Professor W. Tim Richardons website article, The Political/Legal/Regulatory

Environment, was last accessed on May 12, 2016. It provided information for the

PEST analysis of the project. Specifically, it helped explain the political and legal

environments for the analysis.