Marketing a new platform to developers? They hate marketing. How do you convince developers to dedicate their time and resources to build apps for our platform? Your new device? Over the past five years, the BlackBerry App Ecosystem team has launched three completely new platforms and attracted record numbers of developers. We'll examine how to find, attract and engage developers to support a new platform.

1. March 4, 2016
Mikey Likes it!
Can Developers love marketing?

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Lou Gazzola, Head of App Ecosystem and Developer Outreach
What we want:
• Developers are the king-makers
• Hyper competitive environment to attract developers
Presentation Content:
• Not the 4Ps of marketing!
• Experiences – what worked, what didn’t when launching BlackBerry 10
Key take-away
• Ideas on how to market to developers and get them on your platform
Mikey Likes it!
Can Developers love marketing?

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Topics
• Mikey Likes it
• Marketing
• What Didn’t Work
• What Worked
• Port-A-Thons
• Where’s the Marketing
• Going from Research to Results

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Mikey Likes it!
• Developers are a tough sell !

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Marketing
• Developers Hate Marketing
• not a transaction where they buy with money can get a product
• there is a disconnect with traditional marketing that promotes a product
• It’s a long-term commitment
• When building, they’re not earning
• Marketing Isn’t
• T-Shirts, Cool Names and Awareness campaigns
• Marketing to Developers
• Convincing a developer your platform is worth their scare time

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• Easy port to BlackBerry
• Direct email, forums, in-person events (London, Toronto, San Francisco)
• Big payoff with little effort
• This was the “it’s good for you message”
• Money
• Experimented with a $500 payment to port Android app to BlackBerry
• Again “it’s good for you”
• Giveaways
• Gave away hundreds of devices at conferences
• “Try it…. It’s easy….It’s great for you”
What didn’t work

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• Believe in your platform
• #BB10Believe
• $10K Guarantee
• Reward Developers vs. incentives
• Same devices, cash, but as a reward as opposed to incentive
• Opportunity to for big wins – dream teams
• Marketing the Dream
• GDC, Google IO, Evans Data, SenchaCon, or other conferences
• Travel Packages
What worked

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• Overview
• Marketed the dream to go to GDC as an all expense paid trip
• Cash & Devices awarded to everyone that had an approved app
• Friday at noon to Sunday at noon
• Virtual event with complete support from BlackBerry
• Results
• 3,000 approved apps
• Not all were high quality, but the cream rose to the top and we still have
some of the best developers on our platform
• Foundation for subsequent Port-A-thons
The Got Game Port-a-thon

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• Five Port-A-Thons in total
• $4 Million+ awarded
• 100 All expense paid trips to key conferences
• 1,000 devices
• Results
• 42,000 apps!
• Loyal and dedicated developer base
• Foundation to drive over 150,000 app submissions
More Port-a-thons

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• Developers don’t buy a platform
• There’s no product!
• There’s no transaction!
• How do you position? Is it the platform? The tools? The app?
• How do you place? How do you connect?
• Developers are making a commitment
• Vision – what is the dream they are buying into
• Challenge – they want problems to solve
• Reward – what is their reward; this has to be tangible
• Commitment – stay connected with your developers
Where’s the Marketing?

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• Understand your market
• Professional developer
• Hobbyist
• Larger development shops
• The research tells you HTML5, C++, etc.
• Don’t be lulled into thinking you have to sell an HTML5 developer
• The technology supports the marketing; it doesn’t drive it
• Tailor your Vision, Challenge, Rewards and Commitment
• $10K Guarantee
• #BB10Believe
• Port-A-Thon
Going from Research to Results