Nokia has kicked off a global assault on emerging markets with a 'human' approach for its new low- to mid-end handset, the N2610.
The campaign continues Nokia's bid to put some distance between itself and Motorola in the low-tier markets, where Motorola has made significant strides in recent years. With mature markets facing handset saturation, both companies are increasingly turning to the less-developed markets for growth.
Nokia's strategy employs tactics which educate users about the phone's functionality. Crafted by Bates China, which has global responsibility for Nokia's emerging markets including Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Russia and China, the campaign utilises television, print, outdoor, POS and online. Although each market's media plan contains elements of all channels, some have been tailored to best suit the target consumers' media consumption habits.
The N2610 is being billed as more advanced than traditional entry-level handsets, featuring MMS, a WAP browser, MP3 ringtones and the product's main selling feature, audio recording and messaging.
"Motorola does have a lot more lower-priced phones for this category," said Jeff Leong, associate account director, Bates Asia Beijing. "But what we have achieved and continue to drum into consumers is the fact that although we are priced at a premium, we are more durable. Hence, in the long term, you tend to save money."
One of the campaign's TV spots, which will run largely in Africa and the Middle East, leverages the insight that many employees are used to feeling pressure from their boss, a fact that Nokia decided to play up in a humorous way, thus creating the 'human' appeal. "What we actually did was put the whole communication in a very spontaneous and very fun way," said Leong.
The campaign will run for around one year, depending on the market, with POS activations expected to run for 18 months.
