Dave Sutton

Managing Partner

Top Right

http://www.toprightpartners.com

Dave Sutton is a leading authority today on how to plug 21st-century strategic marketing techniques and enabling technology into the modern business to drive organic growth. He is the founder and Managing Partner of TopRight, LLC
– a new kind of strategic marketing consultancy that helps companies corner the markets where they choose to compete. TopRight delivers marketing strategies and solutions with a blend of art and science
- combining strategy, creativity, execution and analytics to accelerate business growth.  Dave is the co-author of Enterprise Marketing Management: The New Science of Marketing -- the ground-breaking book considered to be the definitive statement of a new business discipline designed to create sustained, profitable, organic growth.

Just a few years ago Research in Motion (RIM) had it all; they were the leading suppliers of cell phones to American businesses and had the lion’s share of the Smartphone market. But that was not enough for RIM; they wanted a slice of the consumer market too and developed the PlayBook tablet to join the competition. But delusions of grandeur and targeting the wrong market has led to RIM receiving this month’s self tending mushroom alert. Since its launch in 2003, the BlackBerry Smartphone led the way in business communication with its QWERTY keyboard and ability to give users access to email. The BlackBerry had RIM riding high by 2009 because, according to Wikipedia.org, “Fortune Magazine named RIM as the fastest growing company in the world with a growth of 84% in profits over three years despite the recession.” By September, 2010, RIM announced that the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer would be launched the following spring despite the fact that Apple had already taken the lead by launching the iPad in April, 2010. But RIM claimed to have the upper hand with its Flash technology for streaming video content. RIM’s Co-Chief Executive Officer, Jim Balsillie, said, “The PlayBook is compelling because it works with the BlackBerry, allowing those hooked on the RIM Smartphone to continue using their preferred communications device." But RIM struggled to market the product effectively, possibly because of the departure of its chief marketing officer shortly before the launch. There were other problems with the PlayBook though: an unfamiliar operating system; a screen that users claimed was too small and a price that was too high. These issues combined with the fact that a BlackBerry phone is necessary to access email services may have put success out of RIM’s reach. The company’s stock value has taken a plunge and the future looks bleak as many consumers seem hooked on the i-buzz. The lessons from this month’s Self-Tending Mushroom alert are these. Do not abandon the market that made your company. Create a solid base with your current market before venturing into new territory. Choose new markets realistically. Sometimes a brand just cannot stretch to new markets. Lastly, consider new branding to enter challenging new markets.