Millennial Marketer

The Hottest (Youth) Mobile Phone Brand Always Stays Ahead of the Curve

Nokia has gotten it right with Gen Y from the start. They were the first mobile phone manufacturer to capitalize on this age group’s desire to customize and personalize their experience with the product. Nokia phones with interchangeable faceplates were so popular among teens throughout the 1990s because young people could finally make their phone cool and unique - fulfilling a strong urge to differentiate theirs from the dull, gray phones owned by their parents.

In 2008, Nokia is still a brand that resonates with Gen Y. But marketing to a younger audience is no longer about custom accessories. Young buyers nowadays want to customize and control their own content. They don’t care as much about the physical device - they just care about what they can create and who they can communicate with. Because of this, Nokia is embarking on fresh campaigns to market their new N-series line of phones.

Advertising the Nokia N-series: Telling isn’t Selling

The N-series is a clean, cutting edge line of phones, which would typically be promoted by showcasing the product’s sexy design and full-fledged feature set in advertisements. BlackBerrys are promoted in this manner and it works for them - because their target demographic is the 30-50 year old market. But this promotional style will only cause Gen-Yers to press the commercial skip button on their TiVo.

Product-focused and feature-based advertising rarely grabs the attention of a Gen-Yer. Advertisers don’t need to list out product features for us; we can learn about those online if we really want to. Don’t tell me what your product can do - show me the experience I could have with it. Nokia gets this concept, and their recent marketing initiative for the new N-series is an excellent example of marketing that Gen Y will pay attention to.

So how is Nokia reaching Gen Y? Here are the details:

• Nokia sponsored the Cannes Young Lions Film Festival, an international film competition for advertising professionals under the age of 29.
• They give each team an N-series phone which has video capture and editing capabilities built-in.
• Teams have 48 hours to shoot and edit a 60-second commercial, all done with the Nokia phone.

The Cannes Young Lions Film Festival = Perfect Product Placement for Nokia

The result: teams of young people from all over the world created their own commercials using Nokia phones. The company is creating buzz by tapping into this age group’s primal desire to create, publish, and share content that is relevant to them. And it is working - the videos are unique and creative, and all of them show the N-series phones in action (without showing the phones at all). The entry from Team Italy (vid below) is my favorite.

Learning from Nokia - How You Can Reach Gen Y

For businesses that want to make meaningful connections with Generation Y, there are 2 key takeaways to consider that lead Nokia to success with their recent N-series marketing campaign:

1. By inviting teams from around the world to participate in the Cannes Young Lions festival, Nokia is building a reputation as a brand and company with a world view. Gen Y studies abroad, has friends living abroad, and has generally grown up in a culture that appreciates diversity. These factors cause Generation Y to weigh a company’s global actions (positive or negative) more heavily than others when making purchasing decisions.
2. Nokia gave their users control of the content by asking them to create advertisements. The logic behind this is simple: if you are trying to reach the Gen Y demographic, why should anyone other than a Gen-Yer design your ads?