BlackBerry Teases With Super Bowl Ad

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Hot on the heels of its major corporate rebranding and the launch of its latest technology, BlackBerry has offered a glimpse of the company's Super Bowl ad.

The Canadian handset maker, which changed its name from Research In Motion (RIMM) earlier this week, has sent out a still image of its ad, which will debut during Sunday's clash between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers.

The ad is part of a huge effort by CEO Thorsten Heins to revitalize the embattled company in the face of stiff competition from Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and Google (GOOG) Android devices from the likes of Samsung.

"BlackBerry will be featured in Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday for the first time ever," a BlackBerry spokeswoman wrote in a statement emailed to TheStreet. "This unique execution will be part of a broad marketing campaign about the totally re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry."

The Waterloo, Ontario-based firm unveiled its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 operating system on Wednesday, along with two new smartphones: the touchscreen Z10 and the Q10, which features a physical QWERTY keyboard.

BlackBerry, keen to boost its technology's appeal to younger consumers, also introduced Alicia Keys as BlackBerry's new global creative director.

Since 2007, Super Bowl viewing by people ages 25 to 54 has increased by 8%, according to ratings company Nielsen. Last year, a record 111.3 million Americans tuned in to watch the New York Giants clinch a last-minute victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.

Shares of Research In Motion, which changes its ticker symbol to BBRY on Monday, rose 0.5% to $9.69 on Friday.

-- Written by James Rogers in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers

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