BlackBerry 10 set to invade iPhone and Android screens with full takeover ads

In a bold effort to promote its flagship Z10 smartphone, BlackBerry has commissioned a series of ads that will take over the screens of iPhones and Android devices, demonstrating key features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system as if it was installed on users’ phones. According to Forbes, the ads — which chief marketing officer Frank Boulben describes as “real-time marketing” — will be served to US readers from next week, emphasising features such as Time Shift, which allows users to alter aspects of their photographs.

BlackBerry’s mobile advertising push coincides with a series of similar desktop ads, piloted on the site of UK newspaper The Guardian and poised to hit The New York Times in the coming days. Developed by agencies BBDO and Razorfish, among others, the Canadian company’s campaign will be followed by an interactive typing challenge for mobile devices, designed to show off the supposed speed and accuracy of the BlackBerry 10 keyboard.