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Running head: MARKETING STRATEGY IN CANADIAN MARKET

Using 4 P’s of Marketing to evaluate the Marketing Strategy for Blackberry KEY2 Limited

Edition in Canadian Market

University of the People

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MARKETING STRATEGY IN CANADIAN MARKET
Blackberry has partaken in an extraordinary reputation in the past among Canadian consumers.

Yet, following quite a while of competition from iPhone/Android, blackberry has lost many

Market Shares and is at this point not the occupant in the Canadian SmartPhone market.

Blackberry has needed to adjust its marketing strategy to cope with this evolving reality (McNish

and Silcoff, 2016). Blackberry has made the KEY 2 LE, which is the latest android smartphone

that sports the venerable physical Blackberry keyboard and various other productivity features.

My discussion is focused on one of Blackberry's latest product offerings, the KEY 2 LE (Limited

Edition) in Canada. Specifically, I plan to survey the marketing strategy employed for the KEY 2

LE using the 4 P's technique, using these tools to concoct a value proposition statement for this

product (The University of Minnesota, 2010). The 4 P's of Marketing are:-

a. Product

b. Promotion

c. Place

d. Price

I will also discuss how marketing strategy has developed over the years to more readily compete

in an advancing Canadian marketplace where Blackberry is presently not the incumbent2.

Product:-

Blackberry reported their partnership with the Chinese phone producer TCL to make the new age

of Smartphones. Instead of using proprietary software, they have used Android as the operating

system. This ensures that the new phone has access to all the Apps that the present user likes and

loves. This doesn't imply that the phone doesn't have Blackberry contacts. Blackberry has
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MARKETING STRATEGY IN CANADIAN MARKET
endeavored to bring all that users cherished like the Blackberry Messenger Service, the notable

keyboard, and the Blackberry Center point to the KEY 2 LE. Blackberry's strategy has advanced

and they are attempting a 2 pronged approach here (Chhabra, 2018). They using a notable design

and an operating system used by most of the population to appeal to another, more youthful age

of smartphone users that are not necessarily acquainted with the Blackberry Brand name. And

yet, it is attempting to hold its lifelong fans by making its transition to the new product seamless.

This is an extreme accomplishment to accomplish, yet this would mean opening the product to

another customer base while also alluring the old customers to upgrade (Chhabra, 2018).

Promotion:-

Blackberry has always had an incredible name in Enterprise security. Their email and messenger

service are amazingly 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 month-to-month

security updates for every one of their products. This intangible service offering just available for

Smart Phones made by Blackberry adds additional value to the tangible product offering and

helps allure the corporate customers (The University of Minnesota, 2010; BlackBerry Mobile,

2020).

Place:-

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

significant cellphone carriers with plans. In any case, after the concurrence with TCL,

Blackberry has also started selling its products on their website and online retailers like Amazon

and Alibaba. This is sure to expand the customer base and make more users mindful of the
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MARKETING STRATEGY IN CANADIAN MARKET
special value offered by the product. The transition to the online marketplace will save a ton of

costs for the struggling smartphone creator and permit them the flexibility to offer one-of-a-kind

services to additional upgrade their product offering.

Price:-

The price is perhaps the most important factor for this gadget. This gadget specifically targets

professionals who are hoping to get the greatest value out of the product. With iPhone incredibly

dug in the corporate space, Blackberry has chosen to dispatch with a significantly lower price

than its competition for this handset. The handset will be available for $CAD 519 for the 32 GB

variation and $599 CAD for the 64 GB variation (Daley, 2018). Compare this to the 64 GB

iPhone X which was dispatched in Canada at the price of $1319 CAD (Ng, 2017). By

dispatching the product at a large portion of the cost, Blackberry wants to ensure that its product

appeals to the price-conscious consumers who need the most extreme value for their money.

Blackberry has kept on offering various discounts to additional improve the value of its product.

A 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.
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MARKETING STRATEGY IN CANADIAN MARKET

References

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

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

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

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/

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

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

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/

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.

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

School. (2015). Harvard Business School. https://www.isc.hbs.edu/strategy/creating-a-

successfulstrategy/pages/uniquevalue