Blackberry vs. HTC

So I decided that it was time to upgrade from a pay-as-you go plan to a contract plan and decided that I might as well upgrade my phone as well. My friend owns 2 bell stores and is proud of the Bell brand and talks about it positively any chance he gets. In this regard, I was comfortable dealing with Bell. My brother had also experienced Bell service before and was satisfied. I heard bad stories with Rogers and Telus so decided that Bell it was.

Now, which smart phone should I choose?

HTC: I like the commercials and feel that I fall within and can relate to brand’s target market. I can relate to the free-spirited, individual and creative brand personality that the brand promotes and have always viewed the brand in a positive light. To me the brand is optimistic, an underdog, modest, high quality and fun so this has really resonated with me. I also strongly liked the phones available, particularly their design and aesthetic appeal.

Blackberry: The brand community that Blackberry has built is so strong and had the biggest impact on me. Although I felt a stronger connection to the HTC marketing communications, it was the social influences and word of mouth recommendations from friends that ultimately compelled me to join the Blackberry movement. The biggest selling features for me was BBM and all of the great stories associated with using BBM. Another feature that attracted me to Blackberry was the connection that it has to the parent company RIM: It gives me a sense of pride to support a local, home-grown, multi-national company that is down the street from my university. Blackberry’s large “Do what you love, love what you do” brand equity building campaign that aired last year also established this idea in my head that when I was going to upgrade to a smartphone, this was the phone that I was going to get.  I could relate to this campaign and it felt uplifting and encouraging, which helped to fulfill hedonic needs. Just the fact that I have grown up knowing about the blackberry and seeing how much it has improved in quality and features over time was very appealing to me.

I ended up getting the Blackberry Torch and am very happy with my purchase J