It has been revealed in 2007 marketing execs at BlackBerry (then RIM) pooh-poohed the idea of Justin Bieber to tout the brand. Sadly they did so for the wrong reasons. We would have turned down Justin Bieber because he was and always been a talentless mime artist who lowers the standards of the world. RIM turned him down because they thought he was a Fad who would not be around long. In actual fact RIM’s shelf life was even shorter.
Vincent Washington, RIM's senior business development manager from 2001-11 said Bieber showed up and offered to be a spokesman for $200,000 and 20 devices. It made sense. He was a Canadian kid and RIM wanted to get teeny-boppers to buy their phones, but marketing threw Washington out of the room saying Bieber was a fad.
Washington said at the meeting that “This kid might outlive RIM” and everyone laughed.