Case Study: Northern & Shell drives 450,000 app downloads and 65% BlackBerry share with BlackBerry apps and BBM

UK publisher scores huge, cost e ective hit with BlackBerry apps for leading titles

Northern & Shell, the UK’s largest independent publisher (owner of titles such as the Daily Express and Channel 5), faced a shift in reader behavior as audiences moved from print and web to smartphones, tablets and social sharing. The company needed a cost‑effective way to deliver multiple titles to mobile users—especially a large BlackBerry readership—without paying high, platform‑specific development costs or creating extra editorial workload.

Northern & Shell partnered with Mippin to deploy template‑based apps across major platforms, using BlackBerry WebWorks and native BBM integration to boost sharing; five publication apps were built in under a month. The campaign drove more than 450,000 downloads in six months, with BlackBerry representing 65% of downloads (about 5× iOS and 10× Android), reduced development burden for the publisher and strong engagement on devices like the PlayBook.

Northern & Shell

Geo Marsh

Online editor