Catchy title, right? I thought so too … in fact, today’s post is all about nakedness! Before you get any thoughts, I’m referring to brands putting themselves out there … hold on, that still sounds wrong! OK, let me try that again. In our discussion today, we’ll be talking about the concept of bare & dare – I don’t think that explanation helped either. Anyway … here it goes.
In a much earlier post, entitled “Personal Branding – The 10 Commandments“, I discussed the concept of brand nudity – where you expose yourself to be judged, loved, hated, ridiculed, admired … after all , it’s not a beauty pageant, you’re not seeking everybody’s approval. Fortunately, some brands have adopted that level of transparency and laid their heart on their sleeves – with no protection, no conditions, no strings attached. A good example of that is Nokia.
On March 16, 2011, a friend on twitter, Tarek Shalaby, sent me a DM asking me to send him my email so he can fill me in on the launch event of Nokia E7. He also told me that they will be giving away the phone to test and talk about our experience!
FREE PHONE – what could more can one ask for? that sounds fabulous, i thought to myself. But then I asked if this great gifts comes with strings? Would I have to lie, and continuously push out positive feedback about the phone? The refreshing answer was: “NO – we’re actually looking forward to learn from your experience – so please, by all means, be honest!”
That was even more shocking than the FREE PHONE – wow, honesty in marketing.
Clearly, Nokia is not doing this because they just felt they had money to spare and simply started giving out phones worth $850 a pop (but i’ll get to that later). They sought out influencers in the social media sphere in Egypt to test drive the phones and talk about it in their circles. This is great marketing, since studies have shown that people are three times more willing to trust recommendations from a friend, than they are advertising. Its is daring move by Nokia – the crowd is dominated by iPhone and Android fans – with a couple of exceptions supporting Blackberry. Clearly not Nokia’s territory – then again, the number one place to gain insight and pick up on customer needs – raw, untampered, unedited data! How valuable is that!?!
Since we brought money into the equation, let’s look at this initiative from a financial perspective. The launch event took place at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza catering to 50 guests, including a 3-course meal, Hors d’œuvres, and a completely FREE Nokia E7. The setup was fabulous … and so was everything else. Sounds costly, doesn’t it? Uh, not really. Think of the alternative – mass media (TV, Billboards, etc …), where you addresses the mass public, knowing that only a very small portion would afford the phone (or would care to own one for that matter). Needless to say, the latter costs a whole lot of money that doesn’t start to compare to the direct marketing approach taken by Nokia.
Aside from the obvious costs associated with the alternative, I would also like you to consider the price tag on the following tools needed to support it: focus group, market research, advertising on different social networking platforms, consumer insights, brand advocacy … With the direction Nokia has taken in earning the attention of mobile users to the new Nokia E7, it covered all the aforementioned areas. So basically, Nokia did more for less – but more so, Nokia dared to be different.
What should Nokia do next?
To reap the benefits of this initiative, Nokia should:
- Track the feedback across the different social networks from the lucky few receivers of the Nokia E7
- Provide customer service online
- Build a Q&A list generated from the questions presented online
- Build a forum / blog or any other platform where these “test drivers” can share their experience and help share the knowledge
- Provide tips and tricks on occasional basis to make the best out of the Nokia E7 experience
- Measure conversion rate
These are but a few options Nokia could tackle to sustain the incredible momentum created by the event.
Questions to think about:
- What do you think of Nokia’s approach?
- If you were the brand manager of Nokia E7, would you have done things differently?
- How can Nokia build on this initiative?
Think About It!
John-
Thanks for the invitation to feed back. First off, the marketing move is brilliant. Putting your “flagship” product in the hands of opinion shapers with no strings attached is far LESS risky than firing round after round of mass marketing. As you observed, the vast majority of phone users cannot or will not drop $850 for the E7. Results are the ultimate judge of the success of their strategy, and they need to continue the dialog with the 80 people they started it with. Do they get really gutsy and “out” them by name on social media? Or would that just bring negative feedback?
There is a cynical angle to this though- desperation. Nokia is bleeding market share in the smart phone market. Apple and Android have changed the market, and now Microsoft is showing signs of life again after a much-too-long lag time since releasing their last phone OS. Nokia is being left in the dust. So much so, that they will be phasing out their own Symbian OS for the Microsoft Windows Phone OS over the next couple of years. http://www.mobileadvance.org/blog/71-beauty-from-ashes-the-death-of-the-worlds-biggest-smartphone-operating-system-and-the-phoenix-arising-from-it
So Nokia needs to be bold. And they need to be original. And they need to “break the rules”. From a marketing standpoint, this is, and does. But as they say in public relations, “You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear”, and marketing may be fighting an uphill battle with product development. Or maybe this is just the first volley from the “new” Nokia, and we’ll be reading case studies about this in business schools everywhere in 10 years.
Hey John! Sorry I haven’t had a chance to read this until now. But the time-lag has kind of worked in my favour. I get to ask how the phone is working for you!
I hear a lot about Nokia in the marketing field. Perhaps too much considering they’re a phone company, not a marketing company. Still, I think they are an interesting case of a company trying to keep itself relevant. Going directly to the people rather than TV ads is probably the best way to do that!
Hi Kate,
very true, in a market predominantly occupied with iPhone, Blackberry, and other android phones, Nokia’s only chance was to earn attention through usability and actual customer experience.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a follow up from Nokia (as per the simple guidelines I laid out in my post), which, in my opinion, falls short on delivery – it then becomes a waste of money (giving away phones for free).
As for the phone’s performance and my level of satisfaction – well, for one, I haven’t been able to abandon my Blackberry, so i’m still working i parallel on two phones.
Pros:
– super features / Ovi stores adds great value to applications available for download, whether for free or not (this directly competes with iPhone)
– love the interface – you actually have three home screens – which adds to the “making it your own” feature
– the swype app (allows you to type by swiping your finger from one letter to the other and it auto detects the word) – pretty cool and quite accurate.
– the camera video and still pic quality is superior
– the office suite is quite useful too
Cons:
– battery life is quite short if you intend to use the phone in it’s full capacity – meaning, email sync, social media plugins, and 3G connection .. etc
– the phone tends to freeze sometimes (that is really frustrating) – specially when you’re trying to pick up a call and the phone’s touch feature decides to take a break.
Overall, i’m quite happy with the NokiaE7 – but I still can’t answer the question of whether I would personally buy it or not?