Viral Oza's Blog: When Nokia Lumia hit the shelves

10:30 pm on a cold winter evening in Delhi and hordes of people standing in a queue - wondering about the reason for this unusual occurrence. It’s none other than the launch of Nokia’s latest smartphones, the Nokia Lumia devices. The launch also saw the Indian tennis player, Sania Mirza, setting the stage by giving away the first Nokia Lumia handsets to consumers who had pre-booked it.

The Nokia Lumia range is now all set to further establish the company’s market leadership and signal a new dawn in the Indian market. Nokia believes in connecting people and in true Nokia style, the entire India team, led by the managing director, D. Shivakumar, Shiv, as we all call him, took their places behind the counters in Nokia stores to connect with their consumers and to understand what they feel about the new Nokia Lumia smartphones on Day 1.  

If I may go back a few months in the journey of Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft, many called it the partnership of two giants - one with the best software and the other with the best hardware. Interestingly enough, the partnership resulted in the Nokia Lumia smartphone family - the culmination of Nokia and Microsoft’s efforts to create a compelling portfolio of solutions for the end consumer.

The launch of the Nokia Lumia engaged consumers through a 360 marketing campaign around the theme of “The Amazing Everyday”. This crusade has delivered an optimistic and revitalised message to the world to remind people that despite challenges, everyday can still be amazing. Targeted at the ‘Everyday Adventure Seeker’ who craves spontaneity, enrichment and thrill in their everyday lives, the campaign set out to turn everyday into an ‘Amazing Everyday’ for the consumer.

While there were people who zipped their way through the Delhi DND toll without paying taxes, there were others who danced to the music at the malls – The Flash Mob! Other events included surprises like flash cricket in common hangout zones with Muttiah Murlitharan and Kieron Pollard, impromptu dance performance at Candies in Mumbai and snow zones covered with artificial snow in PVR theatres.

One of the particularly interesting initiatives were the souped up Lumia Taxis plying the streets, which asked the passenger whether he was interested in experiencing an Amazing surprise. The cabs, fitted with special effects, gave consumers the choice to opt for any one of the many Amazing Surprises planned by Nokia, including a helicopter ride over Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad followed by wine and cheese after the flight or a microlight flying experience, where the consumer was picked up in a Mercedes or BMW and was given the opportunity to fly the aircraft under the supervision of an experienced pilot or the chance to drive a BMW with their friends or even attend a cocktail making class using a variety of spirits under the mentorship of an expert bartender, amongst others.

The campaign culminated with impromptu concerts across cities, which provided music lovers a special treat. We got Vishal Shekhar in Delhi, followed by KK and Parikrama in Mumbai, and Raghu Dixit and Indian Ocean in Bangalore to rock the night and saw huge crowds participating in the evening. In sync with the concept of The Amazing Everyday, these concerts were announced only the day before they actually took place.

To bring the Lumia experience alive at retail, we have also changed the whole look and feel of our  top  Nokia stores – over 5000 of them, across the country. They sport a completely refreshed look and feel with 3D and 2D visuals, vibrant in store aspects (branding and furniture) to deliver a new experience to customers. There are live devices at retail stores– the largest ever to be deployed by Nokia for a launch. Nokia CARE Experience Centres (NCEC) have also been refreshed to offer the Nokia Lumia experience to consumers. Additionally, Nokia Lumia consumers will get special benefits that include no queuing, free home delivery and expert guidance.

I am personally very glad at the way, people are excited and embracing the Nokia Lumia phones because of the user-experience it brings to them. This entire campaign has been one to cherish and something that we can be proud of, as a team.