Blackberry & U2

Looking over at some of my older posts, it seems I've mostly used this space to note down advertising and uses of media that impress me and make me think about a given brand in a new and interesting way. Well, in order to keep things in balance, I thought it was about time I blogged about something I actually don't like. Blackberry's most recent ad does a good job of almost destroying a brand I find great affinity with. I've had a BB for a while now and though I love the iPhone's sleek design and functionality, my BB has served me well and I just love how easy it is to use and how well it performs as a phone, on top of everything else it does so well.



Their most recent ad with U2 playing a relatively nondescript song from their probably weak new album is old, uninspiring and it's unclear as to what connection the brand has with the band, or music in general. The key problems are:

- Apple linked up with U2 a few years back for a big iPod campaign, notably for the launch of iPod video function on the Classic. Check it here. A solid campaign, that also used some of new-U2's great songs like 'Vertigo' as a backdrop for the famous silhouette's dancing against solid block colours.

- Sony Ericsson have worked on their media messaging for years now and successfully moved into the 'music' space in the world of mobile phones, being seen as the go-to brand for the ultimate portable music player/phone Their whole image is 'I love music, I love my Sony Ericsson', often replacing 'love' with their logo. Perfect.

- The creative in the ad is just bad. Shot badly, with weak audio, and almost just a very weak version of what Apple did years ago.

With the iPhone arguably the most direct competition for Blackberry, it seems odd that they would make such a succession of terrible mistakes with this recent campaign. In such a competitive market, you'd think their creative agency would look to what key competitors are actually doing at the moment, and what they've done in the past.

There, I did it. My next post will probably (read: definitely) be about something I've seen that I really like.