RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, has claimed responsibility for the ultra lame "Wake Up" flash mob stunt that appeared outside the Sydney Apple store last week. The stunt saw flash mobs pull out black signs that read "Wake Up." When confronted with the signs, shoppers at the Apple Store seemed to have thought the same thing as everyone else, "Wake up to what?" then continued shopping and went about their day.
Until RIM owned up to the stunt, many had thought it was spearheaded by Samsung, which has performed similar stunts in the past. Tiphereth Gloria, a social media strategist at VML Australia, told The Age, "The punch line -- which is the fact that BlackBerry is behind it -- is what makes it fail because BlackBerry is not associated with any kind of success."
The past couple of years have not been kind to the BlackBerry, as both the iPhone and the Android-based smartphone offerings have chewed away market share from the one-time market juggernaut. Aside from the shifts in the competitive landscape, at times RIM itself seemed to encourage its own demise. First, the Canadian phone maker suggested that the iPhone was a physical impossibility when Apple announced it in 2007, and subsequently the continued self-denial that the iPhone wasn't a threat to RIM's business didn't help matters.
Unfortunately, RIM doesn't seem to know (or at least admit) that it's the next Palm. When your brand is weakening, you need killer products and not marketing stunts to get your game back. But hey, at least it's starting to admit "BlackBerry isn't for everyone."
RIM claims responsibility for "Wake Up" stunt at Apple Store originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 01 May 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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