Not Fin(n)ish(ed)!

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Nokia has lost some of its sheen. Maybe a celeb ambassador would serve it well...

When Francisco Tárrega, one of the renowned guitarists of the 19th century, composed ‘Gran Vals’, little did he know that one day his tune would become one of the most heard ringtones across the orb, known popularly as the ‘Nokia Tune’. In the mobile handset market, which has stalwarts like Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Motorola doing their numbers, Nokia has globally maintained a lead. And there was a time when acknowledging its invincibility was not very difficult as this Finnish giant led by a huge margin. Nokia made its debut in the Indian market 12 seasons ago, and its success mantra lay in the diversified offerings catering to almost all sections of the society, packed with continuous innovation and a communication strategy that literally talked to its audience. Nokia gave to India one of its most popular taglines – Connecting People. Talking about Nokia’s ad strategy, Rajeev Raja, Executive Creative Director of Bates Asia (Nokia’s ad agency) says, “The emphasis has always been on recognising and connecting with Indians in the Indian way. Today the brand is seen as an Indian brand and not a brand from Finland.”

At the onset of the new millennium, this mobile giant brought out Nokia 3210, the first handset that was armed with a Hindi menu. Two years later, Nokia unfurled the lowcost Nokia 1100, created especially for India, which proved to be an instant hit. The brand communicated the launch of this phone with a commercial that had Rajpal Yadav and instantly clicked with the masses. The craze for this mobile phone reached dizzying heights and it has sold more than 200 million handsets in the last 4 years. With India being one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, Nokia’s special attention to the entry-level segment (volume driven) of the mobile market made great business sense.

After years of catering to the lower and middle segments, 2006 saw the launch of the high-end Nokia NSeries. The commercials to promote the N-Series rang the emotional tune. “We have always based our strategies on the end-user who can be either you or me. So the entire effort of the brand has been to simplify humane,” says Raja. The Nokia N72 series showed individuals switching to a better lifestyle, including looks which were more pleasing to the eye. Added to it was a tagline – ‘Move up to the Nokia N-series’ and conveyed the message loud and clear which was – move up the value chain.

While, Sony has recently roped in Hrithik Roshan and Motorola is doing well with Jr. Bachchan, Nokia has opted to go ambassadorless. Says Raja, “Brand ambassador’s have never been Nokia’s style. Nokia is an honest and sincere brand.” However, despite attractive offerings in every segment and establishing trust in the consumer, last year marked a slight fall for this giant.

The reasons were many; the success of Motorola’s RAZR and its aggressive marketing with Abhishek Bachchan on its side, the widely reported glitches in Nokia N-series, Sony’s Walkman series et al. “Whenever a handset maker has got it right, that company has achieved a lead over the others. And that has never been a static phenomenon! The growth of the Indian mobile market means that many handset vendors, and new entrants, have an opportunity to make an impact,” is what Jay Vikram Bakshi, Head of Enterprise Marketing, Nokia, has to say about the decline in the market share.

Brand Nokia might have lost some of its sheen and also some of its ‘connections’, yet, many of its patrons still swear by it as they say: (with their confidence intact in the brand) – after all it’s a Nokia!

Edit Bureau: R. Prasad

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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