‘Youth in the top 15 cities in India are looking at higher end phones’

BlackBerry launched its flagship Z10 in India yesterday. The phone will be available for Rs 43,490 and will be available in stores from the first week of March. For the first time, the brand has brought in a brand ambassador in India - Ranbir Kapoor. Campaign India caught up with Krishnadeep Baruah, senior director marketing, Asia Pacific, on the sidelines of the high profile launch to learn more about the forthcoming advertising campaign and marketing plans for the Z10.

When does the ad campaign break?

Our campaign actually broke about four months ago. The campaign was launched in five phases. Through the first phase we wanted to create intrigue. Here, we showed the phone to bloggers and celebs who used social media to promote the phone. This created a lot interest about the phone.

The second phases was to educate consumers. This stage began in December. We used digital to talk about the phone. We also gave the phone to a few journalists and had some BlackBerry jam sessions to show a few features of the Z10.

The third phase began in January. This was the ‘inspire’ phase. We brought in American filmmaker Roberto Rodriguez, singer Alicia Keys, and author Neil Gaiman to build a project.They built a story, song and film using the Z10.

The fourth phase began yesterday. It's the amplification phase. Here, we've worked with Vodafone for the pre-bookings of the phone prior to the launch. Once, the phone is available by the first week of March, our campaign will go on air. BBDO, our creative agency, has worked on it.

The fifth phase will follow. This is the integration phase. It's the point at which the Z10 will be shown at activations. People can get a look, touch and feel about it.

What was the idea behind hiring Ranbir Kapoor as brand ambassador?

We are really excited to work with Kapoor. He can form a very strong synergy with the brand. Ranbir helps us target the different segments we are looking to target with the launch of the Z10. BlackBerry is now present in 250 towns and cities across the country and Kapoor will help us reach out to these places.

With the launch of the Z10 at Rs 43,490 what's the target audience?

The Z10 is our flagship offering. We wanted to price it slightly higher since it's an aspirational product. We'll continue our other offerings to connect with the youth who cannot afford the Z10. That said, youth in the top 15 cities in India are looking at higher end phones. We are also working with operators to offer good, affordable data plans.

Other than the launch of the Z10, what's BlackBerry's plans for 2013?

We follow the launch of the Z10 with the launch of the Q10 in the summer. The phone is likely to be on sale by April.