Celebrating Nokia's network effect

Nokia, once synonymous with the mobile video game Snake, relaunched itself in 2023 as a B2B innovation and technology company. To support the repositioning, it briefed creative agencies to find ways to shift Nokia's perception as a mobile phone provider to an innovator and thought leader respected by technology decision makers.

I was contracting with Bloomberg Media Studios, Bloomberg's in-house branded content studio, and was excited to receive this brief. Nokia's new target audience felt primed for data-driven storytelling – something Bloomberg does incredibly well.

I worked with Bloomberg's data experts to conduct deep research to understand the audience's motivations and interests, and how and where they like to consume their content. I also collaborated with Bloomberg Intelligence to source in-depth analyses and data around technology and innovation in the B2B space.

We found that the audience had low awareness of the potential of network technology, and this provided Nokia the opportunity to step in as thought leaders in this space.

We won the pitch and began work on what we'd called The Exponential Era: a content-led campaign comprising a three-part series of expert-led articles and short-form videos, telling stories of innovation, collaboration and sustainability.

I worked closely with the client to cast Nokia experts to share their views on each theme. For the articles, I also sourced experts from outside the company to provide a wider context.

The creative concept behind the videos was to bring our experts' words to life in a setting that illustrated Nokia's innovative new identity. Virtual production studio CUBE Studio was an ideal location. We loaded up the LED stage with visuals and immersed ourselves in stories about technology saving the oceans, radical collaboration, and building networks on the moon.

To promote the campaign, we designed a series of digital banners and native placements to drive awareness across Bloomberg.com. Full and cut-down versions of the videos ran as pre- and mid-roll ads on Bloomberg Originals, and static and video posts launched across Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

We delivered video and page views well above the benchmarks set at the start of the campaign. The post-campaign brand study showed 76% of the audience saw Nokia as a leader in network solutions, and 75% saw it as changing the world for the better.