Nokia picks two ad firms to sell phones

Nokia has chosen New York-based JWT to be its global marketing agency to support and execute advertising and promotions worldwide.

JWT won the pitch on August 9 over Nokia's long-time advertising partner Bates and DDB Worldwide and following a six-month battle.

In a two-pronged strategy, JWT will support the newly-appointed creative agency Wieden and Kennedy in implementing and localizing mobile phone campaigns worldwide.  It will also play a similar role for the NSeries and Enterprise Solutions, which are also being driven by separate creative agencies.

Yet one Asian-based advertising executive familiar with the mobile phone market described the two-pronged approach as a "recipe for disaster".

"It will end up a s--fight between global local agencies and the global creative agency, " he told telecomasia.net.

"JWT will resent being second-class citizens and will do their best to undermine W-K ,", the ad exec said. "But most of the revenue from this account will go to JWT, so W-K will do their best to take the worldwide business from JWT."

It's made more complicated that they are both owned different holding companies and that one is based in New York and the other in London. 

It's also made even more difficult by a Nokia reorganization which means that the division which contracted JWT and W-K, Nokia Mobile Phones, will not exist from January 1. Under the new structure, Nokia will divide itself into devices, software and services, and markets.

The global advertising will come under the markets group, headed by Anssi Vanjoki, who is responsible for global promotions and channels, and not the devices, which will focus on product development.