Who are the real Blackberry Boys ?

In 2010 Vodafone came out with the "Blackberry Boys" bringing about a tactical shift in the way BB services were sold in India. To start with, it moved on from a target audience of "cool suits and shiny boots" to a more younger and innovative set of people who would use the BB services in lots many ways which the shiny shoes would never do.

The move was doubted by many as losing its stronghold ad trying to go where it will not survive.

But not many knew that it was a desperate move by the company to survive in the only market where it was still on a positive growth trend across the globe, only reason being the smartphone revolution was yet to hit the Indian shores.

And it worked, BB revolutionized the way people interacted with each other using the BBM, sharing pics, sharing videos and what not.

But then came the smartphone revolution in India and BBM got replaced by the generic Whatsapp which could work on all platforms including the BB.

Soon BB users started missing the angry birds and fruit ninja's of the smartphone. and thus began the decline of BB in India.

The latest advert of Vodafone for BBM tries to revive the lost sheen going back to the generation which helped revive it fortunes 2 years back. Vodafone has also tried to reduce the guilt of spending by highlighting just Rs 5 a day for the services. But will just the BBM help revive the falling sales of BB in Indian markets triggered by lack of features beyond the messenger, Im not very confident.

Before I close the post, would like to appreciate the creative genius behind the two adverts, and coming up with a follow up of an already acclaimed advert, its really difficult and the creative team has definitely pulled it off. Just concerned that the brief to them was a wrong one.