That big anti-Apple advertising campaign that has been going on in Australia we were telling you about the other day? You know, the one that Samsung was quick to deny was its own doing? The same one that Macworld began pointing fingers at RIM about? Turns out it was the Canadian BlackBerry maker all along.
Well, to be more accurate it was actually RIM’s Australian arm that was to blame for the ‘Wake Up’ advertising campaign that saw busses full of people turn up outside an Apple Store, and billboards crop up all over the place, devoid of any branding whatsoever.
RIM Australia today held its hands up, and released a note via its PR firm which said that the whole thing is leading up to a reveal on May 7th. If the sneak peeks of BlackBerry 10 are anything to go by, we may want to take some notice of it.
We can confirm that the Australian ‘Wake Up’ campaign, which involves a series of experiential activities taking place across Sydney and Melbourne, was created by RIM Australia. A reveal will take place on May 7th that will aim to provoke conversation on what ‘being in business’ means to Australians.
The most interesting thing to come out of all this is not that we all immediately pointed the finger at Samsung – it was an obvious suggestion, we all know how Apple and Samsung don’t exactly get along – but more that RIM felt that it was a good idea to pay a flash mob to head to an Apple Store to try and push an anonymous advertising campaign. The Australian arm of RIM must have known that this would get picked up internationally, and the whole thing doesn’t really leave the company looking great.
With BlackBerry 10 currently being shown off at the company’s big press and developer conference, all eyes are firmly on the Canadians to see where they take the BlackBerry brand moving forward. If early looks at BlackBerry 10 are anything to go by, RIM may be onto something this time around. It is common knowledge that Apple and Google have been eating RIM’s lunch over the last few years, and a strong BlackBerry 10 showing over the next couple of days could revive a company that many have been writing off of late. Including us.
Let’s see what comes out of BlackBerry World 2012.
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