Nokia/S60 Marketing Suggestions
I recently posted a very misunderstood rant about Nokia and S60’s marketing in the United States. I want to first say that I realize they’re doing things here and there. However, if they truly want to bring S60 to the masses, the first step is going to be reaching the masses where they are, which is still traditional mediums like television. iPhone is doing it, you need to, also. I recently suggested this to someone with Nokia, who stated (basically) that they don’t have content to advertise with (even though I pointed out some of the Nokia ads that pop up on YouTube all the time). Well, Nokia, yes, you do.
After the break are some ads that I think should be plastered across traditional media, and more prominently displayed on the internet, in places that normal people go to, not just on blogs and buried on YouTube. These are all (to my knowledge) actually produced by Nokia, and yet I can tell you for a fact they are not running on the cable system here in Dallas-Ft. Worth. Dallas is the 6th largest DMA in the country. Noka should be running these ads in the Top 10, at least.
And now I ask you, if you saw these ads on television, wouldn’t you be more inclined to want to know more? Especially if there was a tag on the bottom that said, "Now available online at Dell.com/Nokia" or "Available now at Nokiausa.com."
They’ve got a great thing going with these ads. There’s the same music, which some hate, but they’ve used it as the Nseries Soundtrack for several devices now. It makes you think of Nokia when you hear it, so they need to keep the consistency. These ads also all show people using the different features. That’s KILLER. Keep that up, you have to *show* people why your product rocks their face off, you can’t just tell them.
That’s my point is that things are there to drive demand, but for some reason, they’re not being publicized. How many of you have seen the iPhone ads on TV (don’t count watching them online). Ok now how many TIMES have you seen the iPhone ads on TV? And on different stations/times? That’s right, they’ve blanketed the market. And that’s only for one device! Why isn’t there a general Nokia commercial like the one above that showcases multiple handsets?
Theres a lot of print ads here now all over New York City, but I agree they should do TV ads as well. I was actually surprised to see the prints. Ads are only for the N800 and the N95 though.
I agree that TV ads should be a more prominent part of Nokia marketing in the US. Sure, prime time TV ads are EXTREMELY expensive (Apple and Cingular must be putting a ton of money to the campaign). However, it does not necessarily have to be or start with prime time. Nokia could start advertising on cable channels, where the prices are much more reasonable, AND you may be able to target the audience you want much more accurately anyway (e.g. when N-Gage platform is launched: G4 TV or whatever its called now; N76 on MTV etc etc), Discovery, History Channel, N95 on movie channels; E Series on business news networks).
Ricky, a suggestion: if you haven’t already, why don’t you send some of your ideas (perhaps in a less “preaching” tone ;)) to the person you spoke to, or any other Nokia folks you know are involved in marketing and see if they give any response?
all that you said is very true. we need to have nokia ads on tv…
Nokia have been running ads in the UK for years - to most people they were just plan weird! It’s the ease of use, robust build and shear variety that drives sales in the UK - almost everyone I know (even those who are currently trying out another brand of phone), say that Nokia make the best phones. As long as Nokia continue to make the best phones their market share will rise. Most people know what’s good for them, even if they don’t understand why at first. To be honest, I expect the market in the US to go the same way us Europe - Nokia, SE, Samsung and LG (and perhaps Apple) - RIM will be gone within 5 years and Palm be long, long gone by then.
You guys, Ricky, Darla, Rafe, Steve and all of you that get free stuff from Nokia are the ones that have better access. Its no use just ranting about it here, you should hammer it to them at all these events that you get invited to.
Make a difference aswell as enjoying the wine and dine.
I totally agree with you but i cant do anything, YOU CAN!!
Bloggers unite and make yourself heard.
I agree with you. I am just a normal consumer who had no clue what an S60 device was before I was given one. Now I love it! But I also have a lot of friends who are like what is that? They have no clue about S60 devices and usually just update their phones with whatever cool looking phone that comes out on TV. If normal consumers like myself new more about what S60 devices could do and saw those commercials (posted above) on the TV I can pretty much say all my friends would be getting one. I have one and will probably never give it up! It does everything I ever needed a phone to do, plus some!!!
I think those commercials are a bit busy for the US. Show one great feature at a time so people really get an idea of what the specific feature does and it makes it seam more simple. I had a perfect commercial happen to me the other day.
I live in college housing and one of the apartments got struck by lightning and a fire was being put out. Here’s me in between all the news reporters, photographers and tons of firemen taking pictures with my N95. I text my mom, gf and some friends to check out my flickr page as I uploaded pics and videos straight to it and they watched as pic after pic would pop up. I thought that was really cool and my mom loves being able to see what I’m up to. She’s blown away and loves the insight into my life while I’m away at college. I think something like that would make a really cool commercial.