back to article RIM's cartoon superheroes inspire caustic Tweet-storm

RIM's latest marketing stunt has succeeded in attracting a high degree of attention – but not necessarily of the type that the struggling company may have intended. As 2011 drew to a close, RIM asked BlackBerrians to tweet their "Bold" New Years' resolutions to the hashtag #BeBold, and last Friday the company introduced a …

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  1. ravenviz Silver badge
    WTF?

    Abysmal

    I'd be embarrassed if Blackberry thought I fitted into the demographic that was aimed at. Maybe that's why I bailed last year!

    1. Thomas 4

      I fail to see the problem

      After all, this kind of cartoon marketing looks just great on my Playbook.

  2. admiraljkb
    Joke

    Spatula armed Gogogirl? Really? Oh my. How many shades of wrong is this? It confirms that Blackberry is being run by some really clueless (hopefully old) guys. :) The sad thing, is this was an actual serious marketing effort, and upon it's DOA'dness, they just pulled the standby classic when a statement goes wrong during a conversation and it is too late to take it back - "JUST KIDDING! HAHA"

    I'd show that graphic to my wife for a laugh, but I'd get an earful about it, so I won't.

    Joke alert, cause that campaign should've been...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It is wrong on many counts

      If you want to sell to hoodies you use a proper gangsta rap ad campaign. Make sure the lead vocalist has had at least a couple of illegal firearms convictions. An aggravated assault or two should help as well.

      Some companies just deserve to die. They had the business audience and they failed it miserably by failing to understand it. They have the H&H audience now and it looks like they will fail that too by thinking that a go-go girl with a spatula is an image which will appeal to H&H (Hood and Hooker).

  3. Eddy Ito

    GoGo Girl??

    "Is she a goer? Nudge, nudge, know what I mean?"

    1. admiraljkb
      Pint

      @Eddy Ito

      bonus points for a Python joke

      1. Oninoshiko
        Coat

        well I keep reading it as

        goo girl...

        (looking that up is NSFW, and heavily rule 34)

        Mine's the dirty mac.

  4. Wombling_Free
    Alert

    Market tip.

    Sell your RIM shares. NOW.

    1. Roger Greenwood
      Thumb Up

      even better . . .

      . . swap them for Facebook shares. What could go wrong?

  5. Scott Earle
    Facepalm

    So ...

    Is amateur hour over yet?

  6. James Loughner
    Facepalm

    Moronic YES

    But no more then many many other moronic sales media.

  7. ratfox
    Happy

    Oh come on, it's not that bad

    I mean, compare to the London Olympics... The logo AND the mascots...

    1. Tommy Pock

      I take your point

      It's not Lisa Simpson giving Bart head, thankfully. But it makes Snap Crackle & Pop look like Stephen Hawking, Brian May... and another one. Maybe that git from D:Ream.

    2. Big O
      Joke

      That london logo was a bargain, wasn't it?

      IIRC Madrids was done by a competition, with a prize award of €6000.

  8. Christian Berger

    One wonders...

    One wonders where the world would be, if we just could stop making random products and using gigantic efforts to sell those products, and instead just ask people what they wanted to have, and produce that.

    Blackberry could have it so simple. Just produce a set of "intelligent terminals" which log into a central server via SSH. Then define some open "screen terminal" standard so people can simply write programs to be used over that SSH link, perhaps even port "dialog" to it.

    That way system administrators can easily integrate those devices into their network. Whatever legacy system they have, as soon as they can interact with it via a command line, they can write a little shell wrapper to make it available via those Blackberry.

    Those devices wouldn't be just "portable browsers with proprietary e-mail" anymore, but multi-function terminals which could do anything. That way you could also use less powerful CPUs, and better, low power screens giving you proper multi-day battery times.

    Well but they see that there's been an iPhone, and now they believe they need to out-iPhone the iPhone, instead of catering to those who want something else.

    1. fandom

      "and instead just ask people what they wanted to have, and produce that."

      Mostly, we would still be living in caves.

      As an example, Ford once tried your approach, that got them the Edsel.

    2. Keith 21
      FAIL

      People don't actually KNOW what they want.

      "One wonders where the world would be, if we just could stop making random products and using gigantic efforts to sell those products, and instead just ask people what they wanted to have, and produce that." quoth Mr Berger.

      The trouble with THAT approach is neatly summed up by the words (falsely) attributed to Henry Ford - "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse."

  9. frank ly

    re. spatula

    Being from the UK and in my mid-fifties, I think of scientific and medical careers when I see the word 'spatula'. Could it be that the US usage of the word to mean 'food mixing implement' is causing some misunderstanding? (RIM is a Canadian company so perhaps a Canadian commentard could let us know the usual interpretation there.)

    1. Richard 81

      From the UK too (although about half your age) and I definitely encountered the word 'spatula' as used to refer to a fish slice-like paddle implement before the scientific/medical spoon.

      1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

        Maybe it is spatula as in tool for oil paint mixing as she is an artiste, or maybe its spatula as in a plastic cooking implement re-purposed for spanking as she is a dominatrix?

        Perhaps we shall never care...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When internal promotions go wild...

    I see this kind of tat all the time from those higher up the devolutionary ladder, usually in the form of mugs (Ha, how appropriate), pens, notepads and unsealed packs of mints.

    They used to provide stress balls with trite messages printed on them, they stopped doing those for some reason or other....

    However I never thought I'd ever see a "super strategy / peak push" actually escape from the office and make it into the real world.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Coat

      They used to provide stress balls with trite messages printed on them, they stopped doing those for some reason or other....

      It was realised that encouraging execs to sit around playing with their balls was like selling sand to arabs or preaching to the converted?

    2. Keep Refrigerated

      Pants

      Seems like the result of something you'd see on The Apprentice. Did they hire Philip Taylor to do their marketing by any chance?

  11. Spudders
    FAIL

    If they were looking to reelase a phone aimed at bringing the 7-13 year old market on then this would work......however they havent so it FAILS!

    1. Jess

      re: 7-13 year old market

      I think you'll find that market (which in the next five years will be 13-18 year olds) is the only place they are making good headway. (Possibly only in the UK).

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll tell you what's wrong

    Their abnormally large heads indicate hydrocephalus. That alone should convince us of the extreme retardation of the whole thing.

    1. Jess

      Re: Their abnormally large heads indicate hydrocephalus.

      That couldn't possibly be caused by exposure to EM radiation at too early an age could it?

  13. Dotter

    Looks like they're deliberately aiming for the younger market now, then.

  14. Jess

    Biggest fail is that

    I couldn't actually view it on the Bold's browser.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > Infographic

    I hate this sort of market-droid speak; it's a fucking picture. Bill Hicks had the right idea about these people.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Ach so! Das ist die Inphografik!

      And here I was wondering whether El Reg had maybe just omitted to include a demographic spreadsheet or something similar ....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You're right , that is just a picture. An infographic is a visual explanation of an often complex subject. Good infographics are informative pieces of art.

      Sorry. Got a bit pedantic there but as someone who loathes "business speak" but loves good graphic design, I felt compelled to defend the legitimacy of the word "infographic"

  16. The Original Cactus
    FAIL

    Strategy

    How many people outside the boardroom believe that you can solve anything with just a "super strategy"?

  17. U4eA
    FAIL

    Excrable. The mind boggles at how shite like this ever gets released 'in to the wild'....reminds of an internal 'advertising' campaign run by C&W that 'aligned' certain business behaviours with some graphics artists brain fart of an 'alien' character that was supposed to 'inspire & energtise' the worker bees to 'change the culture'. It weathered a mercifully short period of derision before being humanely shot. Hopefully RIM will do the same...

  18. Old n Cynical

    To get that out of the door I reckon the ad bods must have been RIMming execs ;)

    1. ravenviz Silver badge
      FAIL

      Yes, just like the abomination that is the Fiat Multipla.

  19. Drew V.
    Coat

    Can I propose an alternative team?

    Rim Jobber!

    Salad Tosser!

    Ann Alingus!

    aaaaaaand

    Rick Santorum!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Why did the RIM marketing team cross the road?

    Why did the RIM marketing team cross the road? Because they had all been sacked.

    RIM's marketing team from the past year and now this would if compteletly removed more than likely be better for the company. Not sure if some have already lined up escape routes out but somebody has a job elsewere lined up if you release marking material that might as well be selling anal bleach - the RIM BOLD Team.

    Redo a parady of the duracell bunny with few suits with `other` phones walking doing emails and phone calls and show the blackberry going and going when the others have stopped. Then when somebody complains, you get even more PR. Simple win win compared to this drunken plane induced enlightenment.

    This will go down as the definative definition of the FAIL ICON for me.

  21. Tom 13
    Coat

    I presume she got that spatula at

    Spatula City. But did she also get to drink from the fire hose? Or did she just win a prize from the Wheel of Fish?

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