Day: October 8, 2012

After months of facing falling prices in stocks and negative comments by analysts, RIM’s shares have finally risen after the announcement of their new line of smartphones. Investors reacted positively after Thorstein Heins, RIM’s CEO, announced its new line of smartphones and their shares jumped more than 5% as a result.

The increase in the price of shares have also come from an increasing user base. In the last quarter, RIM’s user base increased from 78 million to 80 million. This comes as a surprise to many analysts, who expected RIM to start losing subscribers. This increase in user base was another factor in the aforementioned rise in the price of shares.

Although RIM is yet to have fully presented their new line of smartphones to the public, they have showcased some of the new line’s features. In particular, they have demonstrated a new feature that allows the user to check all communications from a central app, rather than having to access several smaller apps. These new features excite the blackberry community and increase the demand for the product, which in turn causes the price in their share to rise.

Watching RIM’s future will be interesting. Depending on the popularity of their new products, they could regain their title as one of the leading brands of smartphones. However, the potential failure of this line could be detrimental to the price of the company’s shares.

Sources:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/rim-shares-rise-on-new-phone-hopes/article4567392/

http://media.photobucket.com/image/blackberry%20logo/ianyu/BB-logo.png?o=14

In marketing, brand positioning is the process by which the company tries to create an image for their product to go into the minds of their target audience. This is exactly what Dos Equis have done with their “Most Interesting Man in the World” ad campaign. The advertisements show a suave, bearded man roughly in his 60s and feature clips of his daring exploits each with its own quirky one-liner. At the end of the ad, the Most Interesting Man says “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis”. This is followed by his signature sign-off, “stay thirsty my friends”.

According to the marketing firm (Havas Worldwide) that invented The Most Interesting Man, the goal of this campaign was to “create awareness, pique curiosity, and go beyond conventional Mexican imagery”. The Most Interesting Man’s character allows Dos Equis to create a target audience. According to Havas Worldwide, “He is a man rich in stories and experiences, much the way the audience hopes to be in the future.”

Evidently, this campaign has done well for Dos Equis. According to the company, U.S. Sales increased every year from 2006-2010 and Canadian sales tripled in 2008. Additionally, Dos Equis sales are said to have increased by 22% at a time where all other import beers fell by 4% in the U.S. The Most Interesting Man has allowed Dos Equis to reposition their brand from a struggling Mexican premium beer to a well recognized brand in North America.

Sources:

http://www.jhu.edu/anthmedia/Projects/dosxx/

http://www.havasworldwide.com/our-work/dos-equis