Focused on reclaiming credibility in the fiercely competitive smart phone category, Nokia asked us to deliver mass media coverage and spark conversations around the launch of the N8 handset.

We decided to hero the handset’s one standout feature - its superior photographic capabilities.We brought internationally acclaimed photographer David LaChapelle to Australia to shoot members of the public exclusively with the N8 smart phone in the ImagiN8 Studio, a set designed by LaChapelle himself. With these two world firsts taking place in Australia, we anticipated huge interest from the media and public alike.A press conference launched the initiative, following which LaChapelle undertook an intensive interview schedule to promote the two one-day shoots in Sydney and Melbourne. Hundreds of people queued for the chance to have LaChapelle take their picture, which were instantly uploaded to the Nokia Facebook gallery to motivate participants to share them via their own social networks.The campaign generated mass media coverage across print, TV, radio and online. The total reach exceeded 12.5 million.

We set out to double the volume of online conversations around the N8, but we more than tripled share of voice online, delivering significant word of mouth around the campaign.

Activity was split into two phases:1 LaChapelle pre-buzzLaChapelle filmed a video of himself using an N8 handset announcing the initiative, which was first given to two media outlets exclusively, before it was seeded via blogger outreach. He also did an interview with the Australian Associated Press, which was syndicated nationally. The NomiN8 Facebook competition launched, ensuring the initiative had a national footprint.2 LaChapelle in marketA press conference at the Sydney ImagiN8 Studio launched the initiative, following which LaChapelle undertook an intensive interview schedule to promote the two one-day shoots in Sydney and Melbourne. The ImagiN8 Studios were located in high footfall areas to ensure maximum public exposure and hundreds of people queued for the chance to have LaChapelle take their picture, which were instantly uploaded to the Nokia Facebook gallery to motivate participants to share them via their own social networks.

The campaign generated mass media coverage across print, TV, radio and online. The total reach exceeded 12.5 million, with 100% of coverage including the primary key message and around two thirds containing the secondary key message. The pre buzz activity reached nearly 2 million people alone, motivating over 1,000 people to enter the NomiN8 Facebook competition and delivering over 20,000 views on the LaChapelle video announcement via YouTube. Media from every major news channel and outlet attended the press conference in Sydney, resulting in the event being covered five times in national news programming across 3 networks on launch day.

In terms of motivating talkability, we set out to double the volume of online conversations around the N8, but social media monitoring demonstrated that we more than tripled share of voice online. From a sales perspective the campaign exceeded forecast and helped Nokia achieve 128% of target for that quarter.