On the train downtown last Friday I overheard two guys talking about getting new cellphones. They both couldn’t have been older than 16-17 years old and were discussing the new mobile devices they’d each purchased.
I overheard the one guy, with the half-turned-flat-brimmed ballcap and pants-halfway-down-his-ass say “I was going to get a Blackberry, either the Curve or the Pearl, but I don’t think I’m important enough, or professional enough.”
This reiterates how important brand perception is. How do your potential customers, clients, consumers perceive your product? How do they value your service? What demographic to they need to belong to (or in this case – do they perceive they need to belong to) to use or purchase your product?
This young man obviously had the money to buy his new motorola flip phone but he also had the money to buy the blackberry – for which – with all intents and purposes may have done what he wanted (play music, text, msn, email) much more efficiently than his Motorola. But because RIM has chosen to brand their products as a “smart phone” or “business tool” they have possibly omitted an entire target audience in the 16-21 demographic.
It just goes to show the power of a brand and choosing the right media and the right channel to reach all of your potential customers.
