Nokia taps music for N91 push

Nokia Vietnam has launched a music-themed blitz to inform its target audience that its latest N91 model is more than just a handphone.

"The word 'handphone' is no longer relevant for the N91," said Thang Nguyen, marketing manager of Nokia Indochina.

"The N91 is really a multimedia computer. Aside from basic call functions, it contains an MP3 player, 4GB storage to hold over 3,000 songs, and a 3.5mm jack for users to connect the device right into their home stereos."
Priced at US$650, Nguyen hopes the N91 will win over the coveted 25- to 35-year-old urbanite, an increasingly
demanding audience.
"Most of them have heard of mobile phones that play music, but that's not what we are offering here," he said.
With this goal in mind, Nokia launched the 'I Am My Music' campaign, a promotional blitz endorsed by international DJs and national music celebrities. With support from local PR firm Max Communications and creative agency BranQ, Nokia is staging a series of DJ and disco parties across Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

"You can't just tell people a phone model's key benefits," Nguyen said. "They won't be convinced. That's why we got high-profile celebrities and DJs to demonstrate the phone's capacities in different party settings — for example, showing off the fact that you can actually act as a DJ using this device."

The company is also publishing a magazine called My Musik, which features music celebrities, product downloads and editorials on different music genres, with a 10,000 print run. In addition, an online contest attracted more than 15,000 hits in the first week, while print ads and small-scale events at coffee shops and bars also were rolled out. According to Nguyen, the campaign has met with success so far: "As a matter of fact, we quickly ran out of stock."
Although Nokia is by far the market leader in Vietnam, commanding over 50 per cent of the market and followed by Samsung (19 per cent) and Motorola (17 per cent), the mobile giant has generally been viewed as slow-to-market with mobile music devices. Nonetheless, Nguyen asserted that the N91 was Vietnam's first-ever multimedia mobile phone.