BlackBerry Messenger poster at Waterloo Station, London.
It’s hard to imagine that even just a couple of years ago that RIM would even consider doing advertising that:
- Directly targets 18-24 year olds, and
- Doesn’t make a single mention of e-mail.
I’ve been spending time with a lot of users in focus groups and testing sessions over the last few weeks in various locations around the world and the popularity of BlackBerry Messenger is surprising, especially amongst under 25′s who’ve moved on and shaken off their goofy AIM user names from high school.
Those same users no longer see the BlackBerry as something for men in suits to check their e-mail with. It’s the anti-iPhone used by those who want to present themselves as having a higher status or a more business-like approach to life – these are the people who look down their nose at an iPhone and dismiss it as “a toy that makes phone calls”.