News East West
TORONTO: Canadian teen superstar Justin Bieber once offered to be `brand ambassador’ of Blackberry for just $200,000 and 20 devices. But the bosses at Research In Motion – now renamed Blackberry – thought this guy was a fad and won’t last.
Guess who lasted?
While Bieber went on to achieve super stardom after launching his first album in 2010, Blackberry is almost dead now.
This disclosure has been made by Vincent Washington, who served as a senior business development manager at Research In Motion from 2001 through 2011, to Business Week.
“`One thing we missed out on was that Justin Bieber wanted to rep BlackBerry. He said, ‘Give me $200,000 and 20 devices, and I’m your brand ambassador,’ basically,’’ Vincent Washington has been quoted as saying.
He adds, “And we pitched that to marketing: Here’s a Canadian kid, he grew up here, all the teeny-boppers will love that. They basically threw us out of the room. They said, ‘This kid is a fad. He’s not going to last.’ I said at the meeting: ‘This kid might outlive RIM.’ Everyone laughed.’’ He says this one of the many mistakes made by the BlackBerry maker.
Curiously, Beiber’s discovery on Youtube by a talent manager in 2008 coincided with the birth of Apple’s iPhone which was to destroy Blackberry.
And interestingly, Apple’s iPhone enjoys free `endorsement’ from Bieber as the teen superstar has used his device to take photos and post them Twitter and Instagram, saying he took them on his iPhone.
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