Will Blackberry plan for 'takeover' ads produce tech's biggest comeback?
With the new Blackberry Z10 finally launched in America, the company is betting big on a tactic known as the "takeover"- successfully tried out in Britain.
Tens of millions will be pumped into this campaign, in addition to regular TV commercials - and chief marketing officer Frank Boulben hopes this will achieve “the greatest comeback in tech history.”
Starting next week The Z10 ad will be poised to take over the screen of US mobile devices, Android or iPhone. It won't open automatically, but will instead only take over the screen when a user clicks on it, says Mashable.
Boulben says the ad — via Phonevalley — will come in different forms, including banners and in-app units.
"Let's say you are exposed to a BlackBerry 10 link. You click on it and it will take over your screen and, for instance, show you the BlackBerry 10 keyboard and at the end ask 'Does your smartphone do that? If not, visit blackberry10.com.'"
BlackBerry first tried out takeovers for desktop with The Guardian and now with the New YorkTimes.
Working with BBDO and agencies from the Publicis group, the campaign, has been built built largely around several versions of the tactic.
“I think these are a world first,” Boulben told Forbes magazine.
One takeover was designed to resemble the Hub feature that helps users organise their content on the new BlackBerry 10 devices.
Users who saw the New York Times takeover, saw it pull in content from the different verticals on the Times’ site feeds, its Facebook page and official tweets, says Forbes.
Those mobile takeovers will fill your screen with what looks like a BlackBerry Z10 showing off a specific feature like its photo “Time Shift” .
BlackBerry reports strong sales in the U.K. since launching there at the end of January. One out of three buyers previously owned a non-BlackBerry device. Boulben says these early results were a positive sign for the company in the U.S.
Users experiencing the mobile takeover in Britain spend an average of 4.2 minutes engaging it, a long time for a piece of marketing content on a mobile.