You can’t escape the expectations of your product’s identity
If you use a given identity or brand for your product, you have to match the expectations of that identity
Explaining through stories is a powerful way to convey a message to audiences. This is a short story from the StoryBank publication that you can use next time in your presentation to convey your message.
The Story
In April 2011 RIM, the company that launched the BlackBerry, launched the BlackBerry PlayBook. It was an advanced tablet that had a great display which had better technical features than other products in the market at the time. As an example, they included Flash capabilities — something that was not available in other tablets. The thinking about the tablet could be highlighted by the message from the CEO at the time during the initial announcement: “We’re not trying to dumb down the internet for a mobile device. What we’ve done is bring up mobile devices to the level of desktop computers”.
However, there was one thing that was missing — there was no BlackBerry email application. Users had to have a physical Blackberry phone to pair to or had to use a web browser on the tablet itself. Needless to say, this was not seen very positively from critics or consumers alike. The tablet was not a success, where after launch, many units stayed on the shelf. People were naturally expecting a BlackBerry tablet, to have the features that were expected of the BlackBerry they’ve come to rely on.
RIM later fixed this issue, but then it never really recovered. It was not something that could be undone since from launch the story was about this gap rather than the other merits of the device.
BlackBerry was (and still is) famous for email — launching a tablet without email just conflicted with the BlackBerry identity.
When you launch a product, make sure it matches the expectations of the identity that the product is connected to.
Using the story / Key Messages
You can use the above story in your next presentation with the following key messages:
- You need to match implied expectations otherwise people will not have trust
- If you intend to use a known identity for a product launch, you must match the expectations of that identity
- It’s better to delay a launch and make sure you are true to the identity and brand
