BlackBerry’s global consumer perception decline appears to have stabilized, but the brand is only showing recovery signs in the U.S.
As BlackBerry’s outage swept from Europe to North America, perception in both the United States and Germany fell sharply, but nowhere as far and deep as it did in the UK, YouGov BrandIndex global research shows.
Now the numbers show Blackberry perception beginning to recover in the United States as of Tuesday, after full service was restored and the company offered free apps to service subscribers. The brand’s perception in the UK and Germany, while seeming to stabilize, have not begun to recovery as of mid-week. It remains to be seen if parent company Research in Motion can salvage the reputation of its flagship brand in the near future, even with the introduction of a new operating system.
BlackBerry was measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?"
A score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
BlackBerry’s buzz score in the US fell from 8 on October 11th to -22.3 three days later, but has climbed up to -9.5.
Germany’s buzz score sunk from 1.2 to -11 in the same period and is now -10.1.
However, BlackBerry’s UK drop was severe: tumbling from 11.9 on October 7th down to -59.9 one week later, and currently languishing at -55.4.
