Not content with being number one in the highly competitive and cluttered mobile market, Nokia is gearing up for a new battle. The world's biggest handset manufacturer has ambitions to become the leader in the emerging sector of converged mobile devices - 'multimedia computers' as it calls them - offering everything from fully-fledged music players and cameras to high-speed internet access and business services.
It is preparing to launch the N95, its most advanced Nseries device so far, in the UK in February, supported by a major marketing push. And, according to Tapio Hedman, VP, multimedia marketing, digital channels are critical not only to communicate the benefits of the N95 to consumers, but also to establish Nseries as a major brand in its own right.
"What we want to do with Nokia Nseries is basically the same thing we did with the Nokia mother brand in the 90s. We want to make Nokia Nseries the ultimate choice for advanced multimedia computers," says Hedman. He admits this is quite an ambitious target, not least because the firm needs to establish the new category first.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
"It is more or less non-existent at the moment, at least as a commonly agreed and defined category, so we need to establish that," he explains. "And, at the same time we need to establish Nokia Nseries as something new, and something different from the mother brand. I believe we're off to a good start, a very good start, but we have a long way to go to be anywhere near a similar powerful position as the mother brand is in mobile telephony."
The fact that Nseries is a sub-brand to Nokia - the sixth biggest brand in the world, according to the 2006 Interbrand survey - should work in its favour. However, maintaining a market lead isn't easy, and it hasn't had everything its own way.
Nokia has dominated the mobile market since entering it in 1993, but has suffered a slump in its market share over the past few years, from 40 per cent to below 30 per cent in 2004. This was largely blamed on its failure to recognise the future popularity of the clamshell handset design, much to the delight of Sony Ericsson and Samsung.
At the same time, Nokia's competitors were more aggressive in their advertising, particularly Sony Ericsson, which spends millions on ads and is seriously committed to digital. But, following a raft of new phone releases, including the Nseries, and several innovative and award-winning digital campaigns, Nokia's market share is, once again, near the 40 per cent mark.
CONVERGED DEVICES
However, the market for the Nseries range is completely different. On the one hand, says Hedman, it could be argued that Nokia doesn't yet have a strong competitor in this market. "The situation is such that we're talking about a completely new market here; a market of converged devices that is still in its making. Currently, there is nobody who comes close to offering anything that we have with the N95.
"But that is a huge simplification because, obviously, we need to win mindshare from competitors in our legacy mobile telephony market, but also players that are much more established in the existing markets of photography and music, and so on."
This sees it take on the might of the Apple iPod in the digital music market, for example, as well as established digital camera brands like Canon. Nokia's success in this sector, which is crucial to the future success of the group, will not only depend on its product innovations, but also on its ability to change people's perceptions of the brand as a handset manufacturer. "Nokia, for many people today, is synonymous with mobile telephony," admits Hedman.
When discussing the Nseries handsets, Hedman is quick to correct you if you refer to them as phones. "The first target is to have people referring to the devices as something other than phones, like you did just a moment ago. That's exactly the reason we emphasise that these are multimedia computers."
But, he adds: "One important thing to remember is that, unlike the mother brand, we're not targeting two billion-plus consumers. Our target audience is in the region of 200 million people, who we call technology leaders and stylists. They are the early adopters when it comes to technology and innovation. These are the people who have been blogging for years and are often the first embracers of new devices and gadgets."
Recent research showed that more than 50 per cent of the people who have purchased the N80 looked for information about it either on the Nokia Nseries site or third-party sites, meaning a clear majority are basing their purchase decisions on online information. So, it makes perfect sense for Nokia's Nseries marketing efforts to focus on digital channels.
REVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS
"We're now dealing with a space that's getting more confusing every day. Products are converging, different technologies are being added and devices are becoming multi-functional," says Chris Colborn, EVP, worldwide creative director at R/GA, Nokia's global digital agency for Nseries. "With traditional one-way communications you can get a simple sense of what a product can do for you, but to understand the depth of the more revolutionary aspects of the devices, you need to start a dialogue.
"Digital media allows us to start two-way communications with consumers and get them engaged with the brand so they get a much better sense of what the brand's vision is, where those products and services are going, and what people can actually do with them," he adds.
Hedman says marketing investment will be guided by where consumers spend most of their time, but remains tight-lipped about how much of the Nseries marketing budget is being dedicated to digital, other than to say it is more than 10 per cent. He describes it as a "crucial, critical channel", and adds that spend on digital is increasing while budgets for traditional above-the-line channels are decreasing.
"I want to make sure that it's not just paying lip-service when I say that digital channels are a vital and crucial part of our marketing mix. That is absolutely true," he says. "Think about the viral campaigns that we've done, like the dancing man, and the Nokia Nseries Studio with people submitting their own videos after getting inspiration from world-famous directors such as Gary Oldman. These should give an indication as to how much effort we put behind our digital marketing activity."
A key focus for Nokia is word-of-mouth, viral and online community activity. Jussi Wacklin, digital marketing director, multimedia, at Nokia, believes the Nseries target audience is made up of the kind of people who want to explore devices through various media, and are much more likely to trust what other consumers are saying about a product than any corporate brand message from Nokia.
The challenge for Nokia is to find a way to participate in these communities, but in a transparent way. Wacklin adds: "We need to monitor who is and isn't talking, and look at whether we can give them a reason to start talking. We have seeding programmes to make sure these communities are aware of our products and begin to learn more themselves."
As part of this strategy to encourage dialogue between consumers, Nokia has created a web site, WOMworld.com, which pulls together all the reviews generated by Nokia communities and bloggers about the Nseries, but without Nokia directing the opinions.
Colborn explains: "Our goal in the strategy is to release the appropriate information to consumers, especially those who have a lot of reach and influence, and give them as much accurate and in-depth resource as we can provide so they can communicate those to other people and spread the word further."
Nokia sees viral activity as a good way of getting people to talk about the brand. The past several years have seen several award-winning viral campaigns launched by Nokia, This includes Pjotro - "The man with the music suit" - to support the launch of the N91, which won two awards at Cannes Cyber Lions last year, and the Nokia N90 Wedding viral video, which ranked as the fourth most popular viral with seven million tracked views in BoreMe's top 10 list for 2005.
VIRAL CAMPAIGN
Hedman reveals that Nokia is planning to launch a viral campaign this month, ahead of the launch of the N95, which will be integrated with a TV and print campaign, but he is keeping the exact details close to his chest. The brand is also launching other non device-specific online marketing activity, aimed at getting people to engage with the brand and connect with key areas such as music.
For example, it has just launched an international community of music experts called the 'Music Recommenders'. They include influential, independent record stores from around the world that will recommend songs from their specialist genre every month, as well as features and podcasts contributed by David Bowie, who has taken on the role of 'music godfather' in the community.
Consumers can browse songs for free, search for music according to a recommender, and register to receive an instant playlist of 30-second samples that have been tailored specifically to suit their taste, and also receive tailored recommendations via email direct to their inbox each month. The community can be accessed anywhere in the world, but a beta version in the UK and Australia allows users to actually purchase tracks direct from the web site.
"To me, this is exactly the kind of differentiating activity that we need to be doing," concludes Hedman. He believes such activity will help get the Nokia Nseries sub-brand recognised for what it stands for - a true multimedia experience.
"Once Nokia Nseries becomes more recognised for what it stands for, we believe we will pay back to the Nokia mother brand, and we will instil it with a new dynamism, freshness and excitement," says Hedman.
"So, in a way, the Nseries is spearheading the transformation of Nokia in its totality."
NOKIA NSERIES RANGE
Nokia unveiled the Nseries sub-brand in April 2005 for its new range of smart phones, or 'multimedia computers' as it calls them.
The company initially launched three handsets in this range: the N70, N90 and N91. The latter includes a 4GB hard drive that can store up to 3,000 songs and is aimed at Sony's Walkman phone.
Nokia has followed these with a number of other Nseries handsets, including the N80, which can connect to a PC; audio equipment and TVs; and the N93, an advanced mobile video device.
The next device due for launch is the N95, which includes integrated GPS functionality, a five-megapixel camera, enabling print quality photos and DVD-quality video, and support for high-speed mobile networks.
The Nseries phones are developed and marketed by Nokia's multimedia division. It also has a mobile phone and enterprise division. Nokia is targeting the Nseries devices at the high-end market and people who want to combine photography, video, music and enterprise productivity in one device. It wants to become the number one brand in this converging sector.
Tapio Hedman, VP, multimedia marketing at Nokia, says the Nseries devices are aimed at early adopters of technology and estimates that the target audience is in the region of 200 million people worldwide.
NOKIA'S NSERIES STUDIO
Since signing up R/GA in 2005 as its global digital agency partner for the Nseries range, Nokia has upped its game in the digital marketing arena and launched a number of innovative campaigns.
One of the best examples is the Nokia Nseries Studio, launched in conjunction with the N93 multimedia computer.
To champion the mobile video movement, Nokia partnered R/GA to create the studio, which is an interactive online community where Nseries videographers - a global cast of creative visionaries led by actor Gary Oldman - were commissioned to shoot short films with a N93.
They were asked to create films based on the theme of 'open your eyes', capturing everyday moments that tell a touching, compelling or provoking story about the world we live in.
The short films were made available for download, and Nokia also opened the web site up so that people could upload and showcase their own mobile films.
CV: TAPIO HEDMAN
1992: Communications, Nokia
1992-97: Corporate Communications, Hartwall (Finnish brewing and soft-drinks company)
1997: VP, communications, Nokia Mobile Phones - global responsibility for PR and media
2003-05: VP, brand management, Nokia - in charge of Nokia's global brand strategy
2006: VP, multimedia marketing - responsible for global brand strategy for Nokia's Nseries multimedia range.