Our objective in 2024 was to drive reappraisal of Nokia among tech decision-makers, overcoming outdated perceptions of the company as a legacy mobile phone handset provider by positioning it as an innovator and thought-leader.
For decades - and particularly since its acquisition of Bell Labs in 2016 - Nokia has been at the forefront of developing the network technologies that could power everything from artificial intelligence to space exploration, impacting every facet of business, society and our planet. So our task was not only to drive brand fame for a company some of the audience may have forgotten about altogether, but shift perceptions of its core purpose and showcase its offering to enterprise customers.
Our data showed us that this audience has low awareness of the potential of network technology and that this is a white space Nokia can occupy. So we knew for maximum impact, we could aim to do more than showcase Nokia’s vision of the future - we could highlight the role networks will have within it.
We set out to build a bold, cutting-edge creative distributed across Bloomberg’s own media landscape to showcase the power of our unique IP, The Exponential Era.
The campaign came to life through video distributed across Bloomberg TV and the entire Bloomberg video network, a suite of data-led digital articles hosted on Bloomberg.com, “micro” audio placements sponsoring relevant Bloomberg podcasts, sponsorship of the Bloomberg Tech Summit in London and a captivating experiential activation at the same event. Social assets delivered on and off the Bloomberg platform cemented Nokia’s presence across the Bloomberg ecosystem and beyond.
At the heart of the campaign was our integration of The Exponential Era into an exclusive sponsorship of a new, talent-led and highly visible Bloomberg editorial show. The Future with Hannah Fry is a vivid exploration of the technology on the precipice of transforming our lives, hosted by acclaimed mathematician and award-winning science presenter, Professor Hannah Fry.
We were able to secure Hannah to front our branded content series too, meaning she was also the face of The Exponential Era when it appeared in the commercial breaks of her editorial show. With Hannah as our host, we upped the scope and scale of our production to paint an exhilarating vision of the future and the crucial role networks will play in it.
We combined the physical and digital worlds by creating a cutting-edge virtual production, devising and designing from scratch a futuristic “museum” for Hannah to explore as she interviewed Nokia experts and addressed the complex topics at hand.
As Hannah moved around the virtual space and as she and her interviewees delved into the subject matter, quick-cut montage photography and particle-style graphic animations appeared on the display behind them. All of this helped Hannah and her interviewees explain hard-to-visualise technology and its real-world implications across our three films. This storytelling was bolstered by the inclusion of proprietary Bloomberg data that demonstrated how networks could radically transform the world we live in - adding further credibility among our audience of tech decision-makers.
Data played an even larger role in our three original articles. Led by bespoke animations to help visualise our stories, each article harnessed Bloomberg data and expert opinion to examine the tangible business applications of cutting-edge network technology.
Hannah also voiced our microcast audio series, as well as appeared in conversation with the president of Nokia Bell Labs at the Bloomberg Tech Summit. She even tried her hand at our state-of-the-art experiential activation, a game in which users had to connect objects to the network within different enterprise-related environments. With large foot traffic at this flagship event, the impactful installation created a stand-out moment for Nokia, helping drive powerful brand visibility.
This truly multi-platform approach showcased to our audience Nokia’s new brand and vision, as well as the global importance of networks. Supercharged by the creative force and proprietary data of Bloomberg Media as a single partner, The Exponential Era was designed to create impact in all sectors and geographies, across all activations.
Delivering 90.17 million overall impressions and 2,420 hours of exposure, our integrated distribution strategy ensured The Exponential Era had reach and scale among Nokia’s target audience.
But engagement was even more impressive, with our videos exceeding all Bloomberg benchmarks to achieve an overall VCR of 84% and a staggering 71% VCR for one of our hero five-minute films. Our bold virtual production, bolstered by data, dialogue and animated graphics that helped visualise complex topics were a hit with this highly sophisticated audience.
Similarly, our data-led articles achieved double the estimated page views and strong engagement metrics across the board, while on-site content drivers delivered 500,000 impressions over the contracted goal.
Brand uplift was equally as impressive, with 95% of our audience agreeing “Nokia is influential” and 96% saying “Nokia is expert” after being exposed to the campaign. The Exponential Era’s rich, multi-platform storytelling has helped Nokia shake off previous associations and instead positioned it as a relevant, 21st century thought-leader among this crucial enterprise audience.
