The mobile phone industry has come a long way since the ‘bricks’ of the 70s and 80s and one of the most influential manufacturers that helped lead to the shape the mobile phones we see today was Nokia. Today we have news that the Finnish company is to slash out a huge £80 million on advertising and campaigns in an attempt to relive their glory days with a rebranding.
Nokia are still the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. Back in 2008 they were responsible for 40% of the share of mobile phones sold on the market across the world. Growing competitiveness and design development from other manufacturers, such as Apple and Samsung, has led to a huge drop in the percentage for the company however. This may be the all or nothing attempt to resurrect their dying attempts to be on top once again.
The campaign is reported to be expected to last six months according to The Inquirer, with a number of marketing companies and agencies involved, spreading across multiple countries. The likes of Fallon and Wieden & Kennedy have been hired in the UK by Nokia, as well as several other agencies to help in their quest for success.
The company has already made positive changes to the way things are done since they signed a deal with computing giants Microsoft back in February. This saw the end of their Symbian operating systems and introduced Windows Phone 7 to their mobile devices. The Windows Phones also have upgraded to the Mango OS which is promising to be on par with iOS and Android.
One of the main reasons for the downfall in success of Nokia’s mobile phones is said to be the fact that they failed to introduce drastically different devices, that they were all similar in design. This arguably could be down to slight arrogance, as they were receiving great success or may be down to playing it safe with the ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it motto.’ Either way this change is definitely something that will aid rather than hinder the company now.
Smartphones are apparently the future for the mobile phone industry, the success that manufacturers like HTC and Apple have been receiving with these devices speaks for itself. This is somewhere that needs improving for Nokia in order to succeed despite the sales they have had with feature phones. Maybe the Nokia N9 smartphone could be the beginning of something new for the Fins, let’s hope they get the expensive campaigning right. Do you think the expensive advertising campaign will pay off?
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