BlackBerry’s “Action Starts Here” campaign was designed to encourage young people in Indonesia to move from intention to action. The campaign invited BlackBerry users to share stories about how their smartphones helped them work more efficiently, pursue meaningful goals, or take practical steps in their lives.
The challenge was to turn those individual stories into a broader social movement. BlackBerry already had a substantial Facebook community, but the campaign needed more than a polished destination. It needed a participation model that would make people want to share their stories and encourage others to take notice.
BlackBerry Singapore partnered with Suitmedia in 2012 to develop a Facebook application that could support the campaign. The platform combined storytelling, participation, and peer voting to help users publish their experiences and bring their own networks into the campaign.
The result was a social campaign structure designed to grow through participant action rather than relying only on brand distribution.
A Strong Community Needed a Reason to Participate
1. The campaign had a clear social purpose
“Action Starts Here” was built around a simple idea: meaningful progress begins when someone decides to act.
BlackBerry wanted young people to share how the device had helped them turn plans into action. These stories could involve work, personal goals, creative projects, entrepreneurship, or other meaningful activities.
This gave the campaign a purpose beyond product promotion. BlackBerry was not only asking users to talk about smartphone features. It was asking them to explain what those features enabled them to do.
That distinction mattered. Product claims can be easy to ignore, while personal stories give people something more relatable to respond to.
2. The campaign needed to convert users from viewers into contributors
BlackBerry already had a large Facebook fan base. This gave the campaign an audience, but audience size alone did not guarantee participation.
People might see campaign content without sharing a story. They might read other people’s experiences without contributing their own. To create momentum, the campaign needed to lower the barrier to entry and make participation feel worthwhile.
Users needed a clear place to submit their stories, a simple way to understand the campaign, and a reason to share their participation with friends.
The platform therefore had to support the complete journey from awareness to contribution.
3. A story campaign needed built-in distribution
User-generated content can be powerful, but it does not spread automatically.
When someone submits a story, the campaign needs a way to help that story reach other people. Friends and followers must have a reason to view it, respond to it, and share it further.
BlackBerry needed a mechanism that would give participants a personal stake in distributing the campaign.
The challenge was to create this distribution without making the experience feel overly complicated or disconnected from the central idea of taking action.
4. The campaign had to feel native to Facebook
At the time of the campaign, Facebook was a major environment for social interaction and brand engagement. BlackBerry already had an established presence there, which made the platform a natural home for the campaign.
Using Facebook allowed the campaign to meet users where they were already spending time. It also reduced the effort required to discover and participate in the activity.
However, simply placing a campaign on Facebook would not make it social. The application needed to use the platform’s network effect in a purposeful way.
The experience had to make it easy for users to share, invite, and request support from their existing connections.
5. BlackBerry needed to connect brand communication with action
The campaign was part of a broader 360-degree marketing effort. The Facebook application therefore needed to do more than host submissions.
It had to reinforce BlackBerry’s brand message: that the device could help people act, work, create, and make progress.
Every part of the experience needed to support that association. Story submission showed personal action. Voting showed community support. Sharing extended the message through participant networks.
The platform became the bridge between the campaign idea and the behavior BlackBerry wanted audiences to demonstrate.
Designing a Campaign That Could Grow Through Its Participants
1. We made storytelling the central user action
Suitmedia developed a Facebook application where users could share their “Action Starts Here” stories.
The application gave participants a structured place to explain how BlackBerry had helped them pursue a goal or complete a meaningful activity.
This format helped make the campaign concrete. Instead of asking users to engage with an abstract brand message, it gave them a direct prompt: What action did you take, and how did BlackBerry support you?
The question also allowed different types of users to participate. A story could be professional, personal, entrepreneurial, creative, or community-focused, as long as it demonstrated the connection between the device and meaningful action.
2. We kept the interface focused on participation
A campaign application should not make users work to understand what they are supposed to do.
The interface was designed to guide visitors toward the essential actions: understand the campaign, submit a story, view other stories, and participate in voting.
This focus reduced distraction and helped the application support the campaign’s central purpose.
A visually appealing interface was important, but appearance alone would not create participation. The design needed to make contribution feel straightforward and make the campaign’s message easy to absorb.
3. We used the existing Facebook community as the starting point
BlackBerry’s existing Facebook fan base provided an initial audience for the campaign.
Suitmedia used that established community as the first layer of reach. Fans could encounter the campaign through BlackBerry’s page, explore the application, and decide whether to contribute their own experiences.
This approach was more efficient than building awareness from nothing. The challenge was to turn an existing audience into an active network.
The platform supported that transition by making each participant’s story visible and giving the participant a reason to bring friends into the experience.
4. We introduced voting to give stories social value
The application included a voting system that allowed users to support their favorite stories.
Voting served several purposes. It gave participants a reason to share their submissions, created a way for audiences to respond, and made the campaign feel more like a community activity than a one-way submission form.
A story was no longer complete when it was uploaded. The participant could now ask friends and contacts to view and vote for it.
This created a natural link between participation and distribution. Users had a personal reason to introduce the campaign to their own networks.
5. We designed the voting mechanism to encourage invitations
The voting system automatically encouraged participants to ask friends to support their stories.
This was the central growth mechanism of the campaign. Each participant became a potential source of new visitors, voters, and future participants.
The system created a simple cycle:
- A user discovered the campaign.
- The user submitted a personal story.
- The user invited friends to vote.
- Friends visited the application to support the story.
- Those visitors encountered other stories and could decide to participate.
- New participants repeated the same process.
This structure allowed the campaign to expand through personal networks rather than relying only on BlackBerry’s official communication.
6. We made peer endorsement part of the brand experience
The voting feature did more than increase traffic. It connected BlackBerry with social support and recognition.
Participants were not only talking about how BlackBerry helped them act. They were asking their communities to acknowledge and support those actions.
This helped reinforce the campaign’s broader message. Action was presented as something personal, but also something that could inspire others.
The social layer made the brand story more credible because it was carried through real user experiences and peer interaction rather than communicated solely by the company.
7. We treated the application as part of a wider campaign system
The Facebook application was one component of BlackBerry’s broader marketing campaign.
Its role was to give the campaign a clear place for participation and a mechanism for social spread. Other campaign activities could direct audiences toward the application, while the stories and voting activity generated additional content and attention.
This created a stronger relationship between campaign communication and user behavior.
The application was not an isolated microsite. It was an engagement engine within the wider campaign, designed to convert attention into participation and participation into reach.
8. We balanced campaign control with user expression
A user-generated campaign needs enough structure to remain aligned with the brand while leaving room for participants to communicate in their own voice.
The “Action Starts Here” concept provided the common theme. Participants supplied the personal interpretation.
This balance was important. If BlackBerry prescribed every detail of the story, the campaign could feel like advertising. If the platform provided no structure, the content could become disconnected from the purpose.
The application gave users a clear question and a clear place to respond while allowing the stories themselves to remain personal.
9. We built for the behavior the campaign wanted to create
The campaign wanted people to move from intention to action and inspire others through their stories.
The application reflected that sequence. Users took the action of submitting a story, then encouraged others to act by voting and participating.
This alignment between message and mechanism strengthened the campaign. The platform did not merely talk about social momentum; it created a system that could produce it.
From Individual Stories to Wider Campaign Reach
1. Participants became active campaign distributors
The voting system gave users a reason to promote their own submissions through their personal networks.
This reduced the campaign’s dependence on the BlackBerry brand page as the only source of reach. Participants helped distribute the campaign because their own stories were at stake.
That created a more efficient path to new audiences. Every new participant could bring additional visitors, voters, and potential contributors.
2. The application increased the value of BlackBerry’s existing community
BlackBerry’s Facebook fan base was not treated only as an audience to receive messages.
The campaign gave fans a role in creating content, supporting peers, and shaping which stories received attention.
This changed the nature of the community. It became more participatory and more closely connected to the campaign’s central idea.
The value of a fan base increases when people can do something meaningful within it. The application provided that opportunity.
3. Personal stories made the product benefit easier to understand
The campaign asked users to demonstrate how BlackBerry supported real activity.
This helped communicate product value through outcomes rather than technical claims. A smartphone became relevant because it helped someone work more efficiently, pursue a goal, or complete an action that mattered to them.
These stories could make the brand more relatable to people who did not respond strongly to conventional product messaging.
4. Voting created ongoing activity rather than one-time submissions
Without voting, the campaign might have ended for each participant when a story was uploaded.
The voting system extended the life of each submission. Participants continued sharing, friends continued visiting, and audiences could keep discovering new stories.
This helped create a more active campaign environment. The platform had a reason for users to return after their first interaction.
5. The campaign supported a broader brand narrative
“Action Starts Here” gave BlackBerry a way to communicate its role in users’ lives.
The campaign positioned the device as a tool that helped people move forward. This connected product use with efficiency, initiative, and meaningful action.
The Facebook application supported that narrative through a structure that rewarded contribution and encouraged inspiration.
The result was a more human and participatory expression of the BlackBerry brand.
6. The platform demonstrated the value of social mechanics
The campaign showed that social engagement depends on more than publishing content to a popular platform.
The application used a specific mechanic—peer voting—to motivate sharing and create network growth.
This was the practical difference between having a social presence and designing a social experience. The platform gave users a reason to bring others into the campaign.
What the BlackBerry Campaign Reveals About Social Campaign Design
1. Virality is designed through participant incentives
Campaigns do not become viral simply because the content is attractive or the brand has many followers.
People share when they have a reason to share. In this campaign, participants wanted friends to see and vote for their stories.
The incentive did not need to be complicated. It only needed to connect personal participation with a clear social action.
2. User-generated content needs a distribution loop
Asking users to submit content is only the first step.
A strong campaign also answers how that content will be discovered, discussed, and shared. The voting system created that loop by connecting each submission to the participant’s personal network.
3. Social platforms should be used for behavior, not only reach
Facebook was valuable not merely because it had a large audience.
It provided the environment for sharing, voting, invitations, and peer interaction. The platform’s social capabilities became part of the campaign design.
The broader lesson is to choose and use channels according to the behavior they enable.
4. Brand stories become stronger when users can interpret them
BlackBerry defined the central theme, but participants gave the theme meaning through their own experiences.
This made the campaign more flexible and more credible. Different users could show different ways that action began, while the brand remained connected to the common idea.
5. Good campaign mechanics should reinforce the message
The best engagement mechanic is not separate from the campaign idea.
Here, the campaign was about taking action and inspiring others. Users took action by sharing their stories and encouraged others to act by inviting them to vote.
When message and mechanism reinforce one another, participation feels more natural and the campaign becomes easier to remember.
Strategic Insights for the C-Suite
- Design sharing into the participant journey.
If a campaign depends on organic reach, give participants a clear reason to invite others. Personal stakes, recognition, and peer support can turn users into effective distributors. - Treat community members as contributors, not only recipients.
An established audience becomes more valuable when people can create content, support one another, and shape the conversation around the brand. - Build a measurable social loop.
A strong campaign should create a repeatable path from discovery to participation, sharing, new visitors, and further participation. Social growth is more reliable when it is built into the product experience. - Align the engagement mechanic with the brand message.
The action users take should demonstrate the behavior the campaign wants to encourage. When the mechanism reinforces the idea, participation feels purposeful rather than manufactured. - Use user stories to translate product value into human outcomes.
People often connect more strongly with what a product helps someone achieve than with a list of features. Give customers a platform to explain the value in their own words.
