Nokia shares out China media duty

"The media account is not up for review," said Colin Giles, managing director for Nokia's operations in Greater China. "We use a number of agencies globally in different regions. There are no plans to change that."

Giles said Nokia hired a second agency to work on its outdoor brief, to help optimise the brand's media performance in China as it continues to develop its message outside the major cities.

"Outdoor is probably the most complex form of media in China, particuarly as you expand into rural areas," he said. "Last year we started a big push into tier three and tier four cities. Our marketing efforts have to keep up with our coverage."

Outdoor is a notoriously difficult media to manage in China, with over 40,000 operators in the market and scarcely any industry benchmarks, squeezing the number of agencies able to offer nationwide service to a handful of large specialist agencies.

Heartland started working on Nokia's business last month. "We want to make ourselves the most professional outdoor specialist that provides clients with competitive rates, innovation and transparency," said Heartland's MD Jay Lin.