This is an essay I wrote for Expo Writing at Emerson… I thought I’d share for anyone who wants to read it…

Brands: Building an Identity

When we think of “brands”, we normally associate this idea with a particular company of clothing that we wear or some kind of designer brand.  However, as Klein points out in her essay “No Logo”, the idea of a brand is affecting everything.  The importance of forming a company identity is rising to the point that it is more important that the company have brand recognition than products that work well.  One of the companies I have been attached to for the past few years is Research in Motion.  Once known as a corporate powerhouse for their BlackBerry devices, in recent years, it has been making an effort to push its brand into a broader audience and as a result become a “trendy” company.  It has gone from a boring old device that corporate executives have to a phone that everyone wants to have… It has gained a nickname of “crackberry” because of how addictive it can be.  I personally have juggled back and forth between several BlackBerries, partially because of what it projects about myself.

The shift of the Research in Motion identity can be seen in all of the company’s products as well as its advertising strategy.  The original BlackBerry was designed in 

1999 as a two-way pager.  In its original form, it was an expensive way for corporate employees to keep track of their email on the go.  The impression that the device originally suggested was “strictly business”, with no frills attached.  A few years ago, Research in Motion started to shift their vision on who should own a BlackBerry to a wider range of people.  Research in Motion was one of the last companies in the technology world to release a phone with a camera, and I believe that part of that decision was a result of its wanting to expand to a wider market.  And it seems to have worked.  In a recent NPD study, Research in Motion was ranked number one in consumer unit-sales among smart phone manufacturers, followed by Apple and Palm.  

Now that Research in Motion has proven that it can create a product that can be sold, the importance has shifted into what the brand “BlackBerry” means to the company.  Like many other companies, Research in Motion seems to be “racing to turn [itself] into [a brand]—to make [its] image more likeable and understandable” (Klein 294).  Now the Blackbery as a brand is more important than ever.  BlackBerry has changed its marketing to appeal to a younger audience, as can be seen by the recent advertisements for the soon to be released Blackberry Storm commercials.  The ad generates excitement, without providing any real information on what a BlackBerry is.  It is clearly targeted to consumers and not businesses.  One reason that the new BlackBerry marketing campaign is so effective is because it is able to keep the old stigma of being a business device; it is still a product that large corporations (including our very own government) use, while promoting itself as a trendy company.  This is aided by the fact that celebrities love BlackBerries.  There is an entire website, www.celebrityblackberrysightings.com, dedicated to celebrities and their BlackBerries.  BlackBerries appeal to both an older age group, whose work is surrounded by the BlackBerry, and a younger group who wants to be like their idols in owning BlackBerries.

Klein writes how brands are “less a product, more a way of life” (Klein 294).  BlackBerries do have a certain stigma associated with its way of life.  Since the end of July, I have switched phones four times.  I had a BlackBerry, I had an iPhone 3G, I had another BlackBerry, and I had the Google Phone.  I just returned to the BlackBerry.  It would be a lie to say that I did it purely because I felt like the product was better.  One of the factors that I took into consideration was the idea of the BlackBerry brand. There are certain assumptions that can be made about someone who owns a BlackBerry.  It projects oneself as a businessperson.  I think that at the moment, it is “trendy” to project oneself at least to a certain degree professionally.  I know that what I like about my BlackBerry is that it says to people “I take my life seriously, and I’m organized” and yet it’s a fun phone to have.  A recent photo of Kim Kardshian was titled “Kim Kardashian Looking Like a Typical New York Business Woman”, with a subtitle of “A Fabulous Outfit & a BlackBerry”.  I feel like this is the stereotypical image associated of what Research in Motion has been trying to accomplish.   Kim Kardashian is a pop-culture icon and yet she projects herself as a businesswoman.

The BlackBerry’s transition from a product to a brand has been an interesting move by its parent company Research in Motion.  It has been able to take its old image associated with strict business and transformed it into something trendy while still maintaining its older image, highlighting it in a positive way.  When I chose to own a BlackBerry and become a “crackberry addict”, I made a conscious decision in thinking about what it meant about myself.  It could be because I obsess over weird little things, yet it is hard to deny that there are many people in a similar situation as me.  A cell phone is one of the few things that we carry with us all the time.  When buying a new cell phone, there will always be some part of the buyer considering what it means about them when they choose to carry the phone.  For me, the BlackBerry lifestyle matches me best.  It is a trendy brand, yet it is professional.  There is a certain suggestion of being a jet setter and also being organized.  And I am part of a unique community of “crackberry addicts”.