ANALYSIS: COMPANY CV - Nokia

Address Headland House, Chord Business Park, Godmanchester,

Cambridgeshire.

Date of birth 1865.

Nationality Finnish. Scandinavians love mobile phones and the Finns are

nuts about Nokia. It is by far Finland’s biggest company, accounting for

10 per cent of gross domestic product and 50 per cent of activity on the

Helsinki Stock Exchange. The town where Nokia is headquartered is even

named after it.

Marital status Single.

Background The company that is now synonymous with sleek mobile phones

started life making toilet paper, rubber boots and industrial

cables.

For its first 100 years, Nokia had no connection with telecoms. It was a

sprawling industrial conglomerate, dabbling in many areas but

specialising in none.

In 1992 it opted to concentrate on mobile phones, forced into drastic

cost-cutting by the recession of the late 80s. Nokia had made a name for

itself in this area, launching the first hand-held mobile, the Cityman,

in 1987. By today’s standards, this could hardly be called ’mobile’,

being the size of a brick.

The decision to focus on phones marked the start of a dramatic period of

growth for Nokia. To put things in context, Nokia was worth dollars 1.4

billion in 1987, when less then 40 per cent of its business was in

telecoms. Now, 90 per cent of its revenues are from telecoms and the

company is worth dollars 70 billion. It is the world’s biggest mobile

phone manufacturer, making 78.5 million of the 275 million phones sold

last year.

Key staff Marion Karniely is marketing director. Alison Brolls is head

of UK marketing and looks after the entire account. Contact

01480-434343

Media agency MediaCom. Associate director Lisa Petchey oversees the

account.

Contact 020 -7874 5500

Annual spend pounds 20 million.

Media used Nokia is constantly producing smaller, trendier models. As a

result, a lot of its media activity centres around launches. It likes to

ensure these coincide with innovative marketing work, such as a product

placement deal in The Matrix, in which Keanu Reeves used a Nokia to

communicate with aliens. The brand used London Fashion Week to launch

the 8210.

Nokia’s more conventional media spend goes into press and TV. Magazines

used depend on the target audience for each model, for example, the 8210

was advertised in Vogue and Elle, while the 9110 Communicator organiser

was advertised in the business press. The most recent campaign, for the

youth-focused 3210, used mass-market youth titles and six-sheets. The

8210 and 3210 have recently used TV.

This article was first published on Campaign