BlackBerry creates special queue at college fest

The handset manufacturer set up a special entry gate for BlackBerry users at the Malhar festival in Mumbai.

BlackBerry users were given a special entry at the St Xavier's College during the college festival, Malhar 2013. Unbelievable? Not quite! The handset manufacturer put up a larger than life letter, 'Q', at the entry gates of the festival and urged the students to show their BlackBerry devices to pass through the gate, thus evading the general queue. The idea readily made BlackBerry users feel special at the event, where BlackBerry was the title sponsor.

The company tied up with the festival organisers to execute the idea. Students accompanied their BlackBerry user friends and urged the representatives at the special 'Q' gate to let them pass through. The idea behind setting up the Q was to promote the new BlackBerry Q5 in the college zone among the age-group 18-35 years.

The handset manufacturer also set up a BlackBerry zone inside the college campus, which had an array of engagement activities such as a huge puzzle board with a snapshot of the Q5 television commercial, a stilt walker dressed in red who walked around the campus, dart games and caricature artists. Keeping in mind the rough monsoon weather of Mumbai, BlackBerry also put up huge umbrellas for students.

The brand urged students to participate in the BlackBerry 'My Q5' contest where they had to come up with an ideal price for the handset and walk into the BlackBerry store at Palladium mall in Mumbai sporting a red garment at a specific date and time. Three winners were chosen and awarded BlackBerry Q5.

Speaking about the insight behind the campaign, Ashish Gupta, director, marketing, BlackBerry, says, "BlackBerry India wanted to connect with the younger audiences as Q5 is not just a corporate phone - it can be very well used by the youth. We have a huge portfolio of products but have always been seen as a corporate darling, we aim to reach out to the younger audiences and that is the reason we have roped in Ranbir Kapoor as the brand endorser, who resonates very well with the youth."

Gupta adds that the exclusive gate for BlackBerry users provided a first touch-point at the festival and placed the brand favourably with the college crowd. The Q5 was well registered and scored high in brand recall.

Starting from the Q, the handset manufacturer watched every step at the event to measure the ROI from the campaign, on which it spent about Rs 10 lakh. The first measurement of the engagement began with footfall at the BlackBerry zone, followed by how many people actually landed at the store in Palladium mall.

Gupta claims that such activations result in 200-300 per cent growth in sales of the particular product in nearby stores.

The BlackBerry Q5 was launched in India in July, 2013.

BlackBerry was founded as Research in Motion in 1984 and is based in Waterloo, Ontario. The company operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.