The rise and fall of Nokia

An important objective for marketers around the globe is to create value. This can be done through differentiation, hence branding allows a product to be unique. Thus  a strong brand guarantees future business where the enterprise can thrive and prosper. Branding is an invaluable asset that every business wishes to achieve in order to fulfill its goals. One such successful brand that has accomplished this feat is Nokia.

Nokia is a multinational corporation which was found in 1865 in Finland. The company focuses on mobile phone technology. At the initial stages Nokia relied on the Symbian platform for operation of their phones. The platform was a success and accepted  by buyers on a global scale. Nokia, as a brand focused on the corporate brand mainly. At the initial stages of  their marketing venture, the main image of Nokia was to "connect people" because they focused on interaction between people. Hence, their consumer base strengthened over the years and more people began to see them as a trusted friend.  They could relate themselves to the products and appreciated the user-friendly interfaces that the phones offered. For their positioning strategy, Nokia used a combination of benefit-based, aim and emotional appeal.

             Tagline

                      “We call this human technology”

Nokia was the largest mobile vendor till 2012 but since then their market share fell significantly due to the growing number of competitors such as Samsung and Apple. To sustain their position, Nokia launched Lumia in 2011 which was marketed by them. These phones caught the attention of the mobile users but were not significant enough to save the reputation of the corporation. Since 2013, Nokia started to position them as a "challenger". Their main motive was to create awareness of the Lumia Brands.

On the other hand, Microsoft who were in partnership with Nokia, purchased Nokia recently on 25^th  April 2014.Now the marketing strategy of  Microsoft is to promote Windows Phone experience  by integrating the platform onto Nokia phones. However the logo of Nokia still exists in the phones which represents the company, conserving their brand name. In addition to that, Microsoft promotes their product through online campaigns to attract more local customers in different markets, focusing less on global marketing strategy.

In my opinion, Microsoft should promote these handsets in such a way that the consumers feel that it is easy to use and consumer can relate with their day to day activities. As a result this will automatically enhance the brand equity of Nokia. Nokia Lumia has POP (point of parity) with Samsung, Sony Xperia and other Smartphones and they created POD (point of difference) that they have Windows Phone Operating System. However, this did not give them the advantage that Android phones have as these phones are more user-friendly and hence have retained a better position in the market.

 References:

1 1. Joseph, S. (2014, June 26). Nokia puts social at the heart of global to local marketing shift. Retrieved from MarketingWeek: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/technology-and-telecoms/news/nokia-puts-social-at-the-heart-of-global-to-local-marketing-shift/4010947.article

2 2.  Nokia - Building A Powerful Technology Brand. (n.d.). Retrieved from BrandingAsia.com: http://www.brandingasia.com/cases/nokia.htm

3 3. O'Reilly, L. (2014, September 4). Nokia marketing shifts focus further towards Microsoft services. Retrieved from Marketingweek: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/technology-and-telecoms/news/nokia-marketing-shifts-focus-further-towards-microsoft-services/4011550.article