Blackberry’s Rebrand. Too little and too late?

In January, Research In Motion, a Canadian company, announced it would officially change its name to Blackberry and the ticker name would reflect this change and be known as BBRY and not RIMM.

It’s no secret in the business community that Research In Motion is in trouble. The company was the first to launch an email machine and was a leader in the smart phone market by 2003. Then Apple launched its iPhone and the rest is history. Blackberry had a series of misses in the technology driven industry and customers left in droves.

Management needed to redefine the company and since the world was more familiar with the name Blackberry than Research In Motion the name change was suggested. Timing is right too, according to the CEO, as there are other changes that will transform the company, including the launch of new smart phones — the Z10 and Q10 with a new operating platform, the revamped management structure and the streamlining of the company’s workforce. Many branding experts are sure that this is more than “window dressing” and that the company needed to change to compete in the marketplace.

At the same time these announcements were made, the company named a new creative director — Alicia Keys. This was another in a long line of corporate gestures to become more relevant to a younger audience. Intel hired Black Eyed Peas front man, will.i.am, as director of creative innovation and Polariod hired Lady Gaga based on her industrial design and precision optics work. Of course, the company will use Keys in advertising and promotion to further their brand work and generate excitement and relevance in the under 40 market.

The technology reporters are excited about the product changes in the new smart phones. CNN Money reports that one of the popular features is called “Balance” and enables users to toggle back and forth between play and work apps.

Whether or not this name change and subsequent rebrand will help the bottom line is still to be seen. The company launched a new tablet in 2011 and it took a $485 million hit in 2011 when sales lagged.

Hopefully, Blackberry will find its way and start to bring back its loyal customer base. The “crackberries” are out there but maybe they have switched to better phones. It might be just too little and too late in the frenzied smartphone market to woo them from Apple and Samsung.