nokia brand audit
TRANSCRIPT
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Group 16, Sec A, Brand ManagementAbhishu Rakshit FT12182Jayawardhan FT12328Nishtha Dewani FT12143Siddharth Goyal FT12360Sushant Agarwal FT12266
Great Lakes Institute of Management[Pick the date]
Brand Audit
Contents
Nokia’s Vision and strategy..........................................................................................................................................5
Objective of the Brand Audit........................................................................................................................................5
Scope...........................................................................................................................................................................5
Approach.....................................................................................................................................................................6
Origin of NOKIA and the Telecom Industry..................................................................................................................8
Rise of the Telecom Industry.......................................................................................................................................8
Nokia goes Mobile.......................................................................................................................................................9
Nokia- the mobile industry leader...............................................................................................................................9
Nokia’s leadership is threatened................................................................................................................................10
Nokia changes direction.............................................................................................................................................11
Brand Inventory.........................................................................................................................................................13
Brand Values..............................................................................................................................................................13
Product Related Attributes........................................................................................................................................13
Brand Elements..........................................................................................................................................................13
Brand Strategy...........................................................................................................................................................15
POD............................................................................................................................................................................21
POP............................................................................................................................................................................21
Brand and Product Portfolio......................................................................................................................................22
Nokia’s Current Marketing Strategy...........................................................................................................................24
Survey Methodology..................................................................................................................................................27
Consumer Analysis- Product Category Purchase Drivers...........................................................................................27
Brand Exploratory......................................................................................................................................................29
Consumer Brand Imagery Perception – Personality Analysis.....................................................................................30
Brand Reputation of NOKIA.......................................................................................................................................31
Competitor Analysis...................................................................................................................................................34
Brand Equity ..............................................................................................................................................................35
SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….36
Respondent Profile………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..36
Conclusion and Recommendation.............................................................................................................................38
Questionnaire………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………40
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NOKIA- AN OVERVIEW
Nokia’s Vision and strategy
Nokia’s mission is simple, Connecting People.
Nokia’s strategic intent is to build great mobile products.
Nokia’s job is to enable billions of people everywhere to get more of life’s opportunities
through mobile.
Objective of the Brand Audit
The objective of the brand audit is to conduct an in-depth examination of a major brand and
suggest ways to improve and leverage that brand equity by providing recommendations to the
brand concerning how the brand should be managed over the next 5 years by critically
analyzing the brand inventory and brand exploratory.
Scope
The brand audit will be based entirely on information from public secondary sources, company
web sites, as well as our own professional experiences and insights. If possible primary research
will be conducted to some extent and results from that research will be studied in order to
understand the brand positioning, awareness, planning, building and growth. This will also be
considered in suggesting ways as to how the brand should be managed in coming years in order
to enhance its positioning.
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The final report profiles the positioning of the brand, its sources of brand equity and provides
recommendations concerning how to build and manage equity for the brand chosen.
Approach
As we examine our brand we will answer the following points concerning a brand:
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NOKIA & INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Origin of NOKIA and the Telecom Industry
Nokia Corporation as it is known today didn’t actually start out as a mobile device
manufacturer. The company’s history can be traced back to the mid-19th century, when it was
established as a groundwood pulp mill in 1865 in Finland. The company was formally founded
in 1871, named after the town near which its operations were based. In 1902, Nokia entered
into the business of electricity generation and one of its major clients was a company called
Finnish Rubber Works which was also using Nokia as its product brand. Finnish Rubber Works
went on to acquire the Nokia Company and a company called Finnish Cable Works which
produced telephone, telegraph and electrical cables. By 1967, the three companies were
merged into a conglomerate known as Nokia Corporation. This conglomerate was involved in
the production of a wide variety of goods ranging from paper and plastics to tires and footwear,
and from electric machinery and military equipment to consumer electronics and computers.
Rise of the Telecom Industry
Nokia has been instrumental in developing the mobile technologies that the world relies on.
Right from the 70s through to the 90s, Nokia made major breakthroughs in the field of
communication technology and was the company responsible for bringing out the world’s first
mobile phone. It started in 1981, known as the beginning of the mobile era, when Nordic
Mobile Telephone was built. This was the first ever international mobile phone network. Nokia
followed this up with the DX200, its first digital telephone switch in 1982. The Mobira Talkman
portable phone was launched in 1984 and finally the mobile phone was born in the form of the
Mobira Cityman, the first handheld phone using NMT. In fact, Nokia also happens to have
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manufactured the equipment that was used to make the first GSM call in 1991. All of this was
done by a joint venture between Nokia and Salora known as Mobira Oy which was later bought
by Nokia.
Nokia goes Mobile
Nokia was also instrumental in helping develop the GSM standard for mobile telephony. GSM
was adopted as the new standard for digital mobile technology by Europe in 1987. Due to the
great potential of the telecommunication business, Nokia decided to consolidate all its other
operations and pursue the manufacturing of mobile phones as its core business in 1992. Soon
after, they launched their first GSM handset known as the Nokia 1011. The following years
made up for a long list of firsts for the iconic brand that Nokia has become. The Nokia Tune as it
is known till today was launched in 1994 with a phone called the 2100, the world’s first satellite
call is made using a Nokia handset also. Snake, the iconic mobile phone game which is still as
popular today, was launched in 1997 with a phone known as the 6110. When the Internet
finally came to mobile phones in 1999, Nokia had already been declared the world leader in
mobile phones, and they capped this glory with the world’s first WAP-enabled phone known as
the Nokia 7110.
Nokia- the mobile industry leader
Since 2000, Nokia has constantly innovated and maintained its position as the market leader.
Right from the introduction of their first 3G phone to their N-Gage gaming platform, from the E-
series and communicator devices to the multimedia centric N-series. But Nokia’s main
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stronghold has been the low-budget and basic handsets. They sold their billionth phone, a
Nokia 1100, in 2005 when the global mobile phone subscription base was a total of 2 billion.
Nokia’s leadership is threatened
In 2007, Nokia was declared as the fifth most valued brand in the world. Later that year, the
iPhone was launched by Apple, and the face of the mobile handset industry was changed
forever. Following Apple’s move, Google launched the open-source Android operating system
which was adopted by other leading manufacturers like Samsung, LG and HTC to name a few.
Nokia refused to migrate to Android and put their faith in the Symbian platform, their long
standing and the most popular mobile OS in the world. Unfortunately, they were not able to
match up to the expectations of the market and have been steadily losing market share since.
Even though the mobile phone market grew by 22% in 2009-10, Nokia’s market share dropped
from almost 64% to 52.2% in just a year.
Its major competitors during this period have been Apple, Samsung, Sony, RIM, LG, HTC,
Motorola and the likes. Apple has continued to surge upwards in terms of market share with a
single phone, which is given new iterations every successive year, each improving on the
features of the previous version. Samsung and LG have launched a slew of phones in all
segments from low-cost to high-end. RIM has always been the main source of competition for
their enterprise services segment and their BlackBerry brand has been synonymous with the
category. Sony and HTC have been competing in the high-end segment mainly. Nokia had a
market-leading presence in almost all the categories all around the world, but quickly lost that
position with the emergence of the new era of smartphones.
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Nokia changes direction
As Nokia was outdone by Apple as the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer in 2011, there
was loss of faith and patience by the investors in the company’s ability to come up with a
respectable answer to Apple’s domination of the industry with the iPhone. In order to bring
about the much needed change to the company, Nokia announced a tie-up with Microsoft for
using their latest mobile OS known as Windows Phone 7 and developing an entirely line of
mobile phones as a result of this partnership. Nokia also said that they would abandon the
MeeGo platform they were developing jointly with Intel and would keep working on Symbian
for the low-end smartphones and the low-cost categories. The initial news about the tie-up was
not received well by the investors and there was a further decline in the stock prices of the
company as Microsoft’s platform was in the nascent stages of its development and was not
seen as a viable enough option to give a match to Apple or Google. Since then, both Microsoft
and Nokia have made major changes and Nokia’s future looks to be heading in the right
direction right now.
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BRAND INVENTORY
Brand Inventory
Nokia mobile phones have contributed in redefining the mobile phone industry through its
breakthrough technology, brilliance and efficiency
Brand Values
‘We Recycle’, ‘We Create’, ‘We Energize’, ‘We Support’ and ‘We Evolve’
Product Related Attributes
The attributes of the Nokia mobile phones are in sync with the core business practices of Nokia
namely-style, usability, robustness, expediential and relevance.
Brand Elements
Logos
Nokia’ in Finnish means a dark, furry animal called the Pine Marten weasel. The origin of the
company name, is attributed to the establishment of the wood pulp mill by Knut Fredrik
Idestam, on the Nokianvirta river banks in the town of Nokia. It is not clear how this logo
evolved and how its meaning has changed over the years due to Nokia’s changing business over
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the years. However, this has little to do with the current business and brand image. (20
Corporate Brand Logo Evolution, http://www.instantshift.com/2009/01/29/20-corporate-
brand-logo-evolution/)
Tag Line – Connecting People
Url-
www.nokia.com, www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/, http://maps.nokia.com , store.ovi.com
Endorsements and Associations
Dallas punk rock band -Greyskull was used as the “face” of Nokia Asia ad campaign in 20071
Social networks and media
1 http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/mar/26/greyskull-becomes-face-nokia-asia-ad-campaign/
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http://nokianewsletter.wordpress.com - Net Talk is a property of Nokia India. This is a monthly
news bulletin on Nokia India’s Social Media campaigns and trends in digital marketing
Brand Strategy
An analysis of Nokia’s promotions shows that Nokia focuses on promoting its new technologies
through big advertising campaigns rather than focusing on new handsets.
Between 2004 and 2007, Nokia appointed 'Moving Bands' as the lead branding agency for
global rebranding which involved brand strategy, identity and experience. Moving bands also
redesigned Nokia's online presence (Nokia.com), digital strategy and designed the brand
identity for Nokia's software and services offer (ovi.com).
In 2006, Nokia realized the need to increase market share, brand preference and customer
retention and approached moving bands with the aim of becoming "World's most loved and
admired brand".
To achieve this aim if Nokia had a two-pronged approach-
This task was undertaken in the following manner-
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1. Moving brands and Nokia first developed the story at the heart of the brand-" very human
technology" by focusing on the new values
2. They then worked on injecting life, love and lust into the brand in order to create a stronger
emotional connection with the customers.
3. They conducted an extensive global consumer research and define a new strategy across
consumer segmentation, product segmentation and naming architecture.
4. A strategy based on current trends and future needs for customers was developed to pro-
white clear strategy and creative direction for all Nokia's agencies globally.
Output- this new identity was launched globally in 2007 and has resulted in an increase of 6% in
the global market share. By 2009, Nokia was number five in global brand rankings2.
Nokia also established a division called as Nokia Design which is group of diverse people
worldwide such as psychologists, industrial designers, materials experts, and anthropologists.
The division uses human-behavioral research to estimate the future requirements of upto 5 to
15 years, and works on spotting and predicting megatrends and coming up with ideas on how
to align mobile design accordingly. The group uses large research groups to look at long-term,
macro, and societal trends as well as more short-term trends around critical design factors such
as - colors, fashions, and textures. They find out local and country-specific trends, and also look
across countries to identify similarities in lifestyles and global trends3.
2 http://www.movingbrands.com3 (Nokia's Design Research for Everyone, http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2007/id20070314_689707.htm)
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In 2007, Nokia established nine localized satellite design studios within target nations to create
products reflecting the needs and aspirations of emerging markets. In India, a center was
established in Bangalore.
By 2010 Nokia realized that brand name alone does not make a brand and that it would have to
enhance its market leading capabilities. It was probably losing its competitive position in
relation to brands such as Blackberry and iPhone which were gaining an edge on the basis of
'perceptual sophisticated' brand while Nokia was focusing on 'functional sophistication'. In
other words, leadership position depends upon how
market leadership is conceptualized and what
measures are used. While Nokia adopted a functional
approach and led in terms of reliability and functional
usage, Apple moved ahead with its brand based perceptual sophistication model which enables
it to engage with the market and develop in the long run. Unlike functional sophistication,
perceptual sophistication is difficult to copy and/or acquire. It enables a brand to acquire mind
space and appear 'cool' 'trendy' 'innovative' and 'desirable'4
In 2010 Nokia undertook a changeover of the Nokia Music Store to the Ovi Music Store. It also
accordingly rebranded its “Comes with Music” name to “Ovi Music Unlimited”. 5
In February 2011, Nokia signed a deal with Microsoft for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, in order
to compete with Apple's IOS or Google's Android.
4 (http://www.palgrave-journals.com/bm/journal/v18/n3/full/bm201048a.html).5 (Nokia Comes with Music rebranded “Ovi Music Unlimited”; Launches in India, http://zomgitscj.com).
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"Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries"
The latest rebranding efforts by Nokia involve:.
1. Nokia budgeted £80m for advertising as a part of a major rebranding effort. Nokia will
embark upon a multi-country six-month long campaign with the involvement of a lot of
marketing agencies. The objective is to attempt to again make Nokia devices as appealing as
they were some years ago6
2. Discontinue the use of 'Ovi' brand (used for the service offerings since 2007) and
rebranding the services as "Nokia services" because of the following reasons-
Google's Android and Apple's iPhone products have eclipsed the service despite the fact
that in order to compete with Apple and Google, Nokia had been subsidizing developers to
produce new apps on the Ovi store.
Nokia's smartphone market share slumped to 24% its brand value declined by 28% over the
past one year 7
The expected outcome from the exercise is that this move would allow the company to
centralize its services identity under one brand instead of two and to reinforce the powerful
master brand of Nokia and unify the band architecture. The transition began in July 2011
and is expected to be completed by end of 2012 worldwide.
According to Nokia EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Jerri DeVard, Nokia's philosophy
revolves around the fact that, “Our mobile experiences are tightly integrated with our 6 Nokia will spend £80m on a rebranding effort, http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2093188/nokia-spend-gbp80m-rebranding-effort7 (Nokia Services to replace Ovi brand, May 25, 2011, http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com).
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“It’s a new brand image that’s simpler, fresher and stronger than before … the letters flow into each other somewhat, creating the impression of forward movement.” - According to Nokia
devices – there is no longer a differentiation". Nokia's mission remains unchanged- "work to
deliver compelling, unified mobile service offerings and next-generation, disruptive
technologies”8. This re-branding is a result of the strategic alliance with Microsoft according
to which the Ovi app store would be rolled into Microsoft's Windows marketplace offering
and Microsoft will provide development tools for these applications. However, Nokia plans
to retain a branded storefront to leverage the Windows marketplace infrastructure.
3. Said goodbye to its Nokia Sans font and
introduced a new typeface and a new look for
promotional materials called as Nokia pure.
This font will be used for the new branding on
billboards and devices in 2011. Thus the new font face is meant to express this new
ambition9
8 Nokia Discontinues Ovi Brand, Roadmaps Not Changed, By Sarah Perez / May 16, 2011, http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/05/nokia-discontinues-ovi-brand-roadmaps-not-changed.php9 (Nokia unveils new font and branding, http://conversations.nokia.com)
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“Nokia Pure” is now the primary tag line for the company. In the near future this will probably
be followed by a new logo as well, with the eventual adoption of both into all future Nokia
products and user interfaces 10
Nokia used innovative campaigns to connect with consumers through social networking
Nokia is making changes in its
approach to marketing, with more
budget being devoted to social media
and digital campaigns than above the
line campaigns. For instance, it
sponsored Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL campaign on Facebook with
the slogan 'KKR tension mat le yaar’11
10 Nokia’s rebrand, http://www.brandmatters.com.au/nokia-rebrand/ 11 http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/telecoms-and-it/%E2%80%9Cstep-change%E2%80%9D-in-marketing-will-position-nokia-for-a-bright-future/3031369.article
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In order to attract youth, Nokia has also launched the Epic Dramas and Direct the Drama
campaigns in 2011. Both the campaigns have been well received as they draw a connection to
real life situations and brand Nokia.
POD
The secret to
Nokia's success as
the world's
leading mobile
phone brand is
the recognition of
the fact that the when basic technology questions are solved, instead of voice quality, design
becomes a more important factor. Nokia believes that design will always be as much a language
as any spoken word with a conversation individually as well as socially. Thus, Nokia has typically
maintained its global leadership position by using its product design as a differentiating
competitive factor12. Nokia phone generally have a highly recognizable packaging style and the
with the company name printed just above the screen and just below the earpiece.
Nokia also distinguishes itself through its pricing strategy and segmentation. Its product range
offers options across a continuum of price ranges and technology features. It is known to follow
a price skimming approach - launch a product at a premium price and then gradually decrease it
substantially within a year or so.
12 (http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/conferences/cd_donotopen/ADC/final_paper/197.pdf)
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POP
Nokia being a leader in the mobile category has basically defined the category. Its presence
across the entire price line has enabled it to connect with all the mobile segments.
Brand and Product Portfolio
Nokia includes ten different series of mobile phones, each with a subset of different models
which basically define the whole product range:
Nokia 1xxx (basic): These are the most basic mobile phones.
Nokia 2xxx (basic): More or less like 1xxx series, the 2xxx
series are entry-level phones. These however contain more
advanced features than the 1xxx series including color screens,
cameras and Bluetooth.
Nokia 3xxx (Expression): These constitute mid-range phones
targeted at the youth market. Nokia 5xxx (Active): Features are similar to that of the 3xxx
series, though some of the phones feature a rugged construction or contain extra features
for music playback.
Nokia 6xxx (Classic Business Series): This is Nokia's largest family of phones consisting
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mostly of mid-range to high-end phones containing a high amount of features. The series is
characterised by conservative, unisex designs, making this series quite popular among
business users.
Nokia 7xxx (Fashion and Experimental): These are targeted towards the fashion conscious
user, primarily women.
Nokia 8xxx (Premium): This series stresses heavily on ergonomics and attractiveness.
Internally, the phone is quite basic; from a functionality perspective however, the physical
handset appeals to users who focus on ergonomics.
Nokia Eseries: This is an Enterprise series
Nokia Nseries: Mobile Computer series
Nokia Xseries: Multimedia series which is targeted at the trendy youth.
Nokia’s Product Portfolio (Last 4 years) in a chronological order
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“Consumers will be able to instantly recognize that Nokia’s tone of voice has dramatically changed in its marketing. They will go ’wow, I can’t believe that’s Nokia’, the new campaign will make people surprised and delighted that Nokia is doing something this cool”
- John Nichols, Nokia’s UK marketing director
It can thus be seen that Nokia had been fairly consistent in developing and releasing new
models every year. However, in the last 2 years there have been lesser developments and
fewer releases as compared to previous years. This, by itself may not be a cause for concern
but considering the growth in the industry over the last couple of years, it does reflect on the
market leader’s inability to foresee and adapt
to recent changes in consumer preferences.
Nokia’s Current Marketing Strategy
As Nokia looks to reclaim its position at the
top of the smart-phone market, it has
unveiled a new revitalized youthful marketing strategy, using the tagline “the amazing
everyday” for the launch of its debut windows phone. With more funds being allocated to social
media and digital marketing rather than above the line campaigns and less traditional
marketing channels, Nokia looks forward to differentiate itself from the competitors.
Nichols emphasizes that People - not consumers - is where uniquely Nokia stands as a brand.
Only Nokia can globally own that brand essence.
Nokia has planned an extensive marketing strategy set out for all of the countries that will
receive its windows smart-phones. Nokia plans to install large arch installations in malls with
interactive screens to provide information and demonstration of its new windows Smartphone
line.
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The company has planned to supply stores with working phones that customers can play with
instead of the dummy phones that irritate customers and doesn’t give actual look and feel of
the phone. Also in plans is to install in-store large touch screen display to showcase phone’s
features.
The latest and innovative ad format that Nokia has come up with is the vortex type display that
will be displayed on the window of the store with colored glass and web like design showcasing
working Nokia Mobile Phone in the centre. This is surely going to add number of passersby
noticing the phone.
Giving free EA games is also one of the points of focus in the marketing plan which is expected
to add excitement to the phone user.
According to the company’s CEO the launch of Nokia Lumia and 710 is carried on by 3 times the
marketing budget available for the other launches at Nokia in the past. The new youthful in
Nokia marketing is the use of blips which is first of its kind to be used in the telecom industry
for promotion of a product preceding a launch.
Also the communications around the new launches will focus on the practical uses of the phone
and not on the technical specifications by using real people as the brand ambassadors.
The company is partnering with many dailies in order to place cover wraps and other innovative
advertisement formats to showcase the new models and their interface targeting to lure the
customers.
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BRAND EXPLORATORY
Survey Methodology
We conducted an online survey especially targeted towards the youth in the age group 23-30
years since it’s the youth segment which seems to have got disconnected with NOKIA . We
received 45 responses out of which 43 were either existing or current users of NOKIA. The
responses were analyzed using statistical tools and significant factors driving consumer
behavior were found out. We designed the questionnaire using mostly a 5 point Likert Scale in
order to find out the category purchase drivers and motivation, consumers’ perception of
NOKIA as a brand and also with respect to competition , NOKIA brand personality, consumer
associations with NOKIA and if NOKIA enjoyed resonance with the consumers .
Consumer Analysis- Product Category Purchase Drivers
The product category drivers were identified on a 5 point Likert scale (1-Most Dissatisfied,2-
Dissatisfied, 3-Doesn’t Matter, 4-Satisfied, 5- Strongly Satisfied ) and following attributes were
explored. The result summary is attached below -
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Interpretation of Descriptive Statistics for Category Drivers
The above data from survey reveals that people are indifferent towards the Design and Video
attributes for the Nokia Phones. The statistics result shows that people do not think that
Software and its updates, Prestige Image and Delicate can be satisfactorily associated with
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Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std.
Deviation
Design 45 1 5 3.04 .976
Camera 45 1 5 3.40 1.031
Video 45 1 5 3.13 .991
Music 45 1 5 3.31 .949
Software 45 1 5 2.80 .919
Connectivity 45 1 5 3.69 .874
Battery 45 3 5 4.22 .704
Availability 45 2 5 4.40 .688
Reliability 45 1 5 4.20 .919
After Sales Service 45 1 5 3.62 .936
Value for money 45 2 5 4.09 .848
Brand Reputation 45 2 5 3.84 .796
Adds prestige to image 45 1 5 2.78 1.020
Software Updates 45 1 5 2.78 1.020
Rugged 45 2 5 4.00 .853
Delicate 45 1 5 2.33 1.000
Nokia. Drivers for which people are a bit satisfied are Camera, Music, Connectivity, After Sales
and Brand Reputation. Battery, Availability, Reliability, Rugged and Value for money are the key
differentiators for Nokia as per the result of the analysis.
Brand Exploratory
In brand exploratory we researched the brand positioning analysis, the consumer perception
analysis of the NOKIA brand and the associations the users have about NOKIA . Below is the
summary of the associations that users have about NOKIA .
Based on our survey and data obtained on a 5-point Likert Scale , we found out the T-statistics
of the parameters in the above table. These parameters captured the consumer perception as
regards NOKIA Performance, Imagery and also their feelings and Judgement about NOKIA.
With a level of significance of 5 % and T-critical = 1.645,we found that consumers didn’t
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JudgementSmart & Stylish Expensive Reliable Properly Advertised Easily Available Appealing Pleasant Popular Prestigious High Quality
Mean 3.000 2.711 4.333 3.444 4.667 3.222 3.556 3.956 2.711 3.889Standard Error 0.168 0.133 0.101 0.161 0.071 0.145 0.133 0.131 0.144 0.136Median 3 2 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4Mode 3 2 5 4 5 4 4 4 2 4Standard Deviation 1.12815215 0.894991677 0.674199862 1.077782984 0.476731295 0.974420315 0.893297 0.877899 0.96818063 0.91010045Sample Variance 1.272727273 0.801010101 0.454545455 1.161616162 0.227272727 0.949494949 0.79798 0.770707 0.93737374 0.828282828Kurtosis -0.578564648 0.049619368 -0.694352159 -0.855149502 -1.534883721 -1.063725638 -0.6254 0.674605 -1.0862119 1.599858987Skewness 0.099389294 1.016209241 -0.517409197 -0.305836972 -0.731727103 0.145355963 -0.17466 -0.9658 -0.004452 -1.09768913Range 4 3 2 4 1 3 3 3 3 4Minimum 1 2 3 1 4 2 2 2 1 1Maximum 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5Sum 135 122 195 155 210 145 160 178 122 175Count 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45T value 0.000 -2.165 13.266 2.766 23.452 1.530 4.172 7.302 -2.002 6.552Significantly perceived No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Performance Imagery Feelings Performance Imagery Feelings Judgment
perceive NOKIA as being Smart & Stylish, Appealing and Prestigious though they didn’t think it
to be expensive also and rated it high on Reliability, Imagery, Pleasantness , Popularity and High
Quality .
Consumer Brand Imagery Perception – Personality Analysis
The survey revealed that people perceive NOKIA as a sincere brand since they rated it as being
Down-to-Earth, Honest but rated it low on being cheerful signifying that NOKIA is not perceived
as a vibrant and lively brand. Also NOKIA was ranked very low on Excitement since the
repsondents didn’t think NOKIA to be associated with Upper Class and Charming . Apple I-
Phone scored the highest on characteristics such as Cheerfulness , Upper-Class and Charm
signifying its popularity with the survey group . Also NOKIA was rated the highest on reliability
and ruggednes but was rated the lowest on characteristics such as Upper-Class, Intelligence,
Imagination and being Up-to-Date . While Apple scored the highest on all the personality
elements like Excitement, Sophistication, Intelligence and Successful .
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Brand Reputation of NOKIA
The respondents were also asked what they felt about NOKIA’s reputation on a 5-point Likert
Scale (1-Strongly Disagree- 5-Strongly Agree) and and the survey revealed the following -
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I consider NOKIA as the most publicly
recognized brand in terms of brand
reputation.
I consider NOKIA as the most reputed brand.
I consider NOKIA as the most reliable brand.
Mean 3.533 3.267 3.933Standard Error 0.167 0.175 0.150
Median 4 4 4Mode 4 2 4
Standard Deviation 1.120 1.176 1.009Sample Variance 1.255 1.382 1.018
Kurtosis -0.483 -1.368 -0.507Skewness -0.595 -0.022 -0.695
Range 4 4 3Minimum 1 1 2Maximum 5 5 5
Sum 159 147 177Count 45 45 45
T- Value 3.194 1.522 6.205Significantly Perceived Yes No Yes
With a significance level of 5 %, the responses were analyzed using T-test with T-Critical =
1.645. The findings show that people consider NOKIA to be the most publicly recognized brand
in terms of brand reputation but don’t perceive NOKIA to be the most reputed brand however
they perceive it to be a reliable brand which is consistent with NOKIA’s traditional image .
Further we asked the respondents about their perception of NOKIA with respect to competition
on factors such performance, Imagery, Judgement and Resonance . The analysis of the
responses are given in the graphs below –
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Judgement - Quality, Superiority Resonance – Attachment
Though NOKIA has been traditionally known to been good on quality front and has been
perceived as superior to competition but it’s the second both these attributes with Apple
leading by a very wide margin. Though as regards attachment 28.89% respondents said that
they preferred NOKIA and 62.22 % said that they were loyal users of the brand . Hence there is
scope for NOKIA to build again on this loyalty since Apple is though highly popular amongst the
youth but still majority of the youth are loyal to the NOKIA brand and expect it to come up with
a superior performance as always .
Resonance – Engagement Performance – Worth its Price
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Regarding engagement 31.11 % of
respondents said they would
recommend NOKIA phone to others but
here the spread is not as wide as in
other measures and other brands like
Samsung and Blackberry are also highly
recommended by consumers. As
regards price worth NOKIA is definitely in lead (44.44%) as it is considered a fairly good product
at a low price. However NOKIA scored abysmally low (8.89%) as regards consumer feelings of
pride of possessing a NOKIA phone whereas Apple clearly led at 80.00 % hence it is clear that
consumers don’t identify NOKIA with pride but are proud of aspirational brands like Apple .
Competitor Analysis
We have focused on three major players in the world markets as the main competitors to the Nokia
brand. These are Apple, Samsung and RIM’s BlackBerry.
1. Apple
With the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has broken all sales records set by any player in any
industry. In fact, they create new records with every new product launch surpassing even their own
expectations. From the Mac to the iPad, Apple’s product portfolio consists of premium products at
premium prices, and they still sell like hot cakes. This brand is clearly the apple of every consumer’s
eye. Apart from being a revolutionary product, Apple has been able to deliver industry-leading
devices in terms of specifications and design. It has created a very large aspirational value for itself.
This is clearly evident from its scores in the Competence, Sophistication and Excitement sections.
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Feelings- Self Respect
The majority of the respondents consider it to be the most imaginative (91%) and the most up-to-
date (60%). They also rank it the highest in terms of an upper-class (69%) and successful brand
(60%). The one major area where it lags behind is in terms of sincerity and reliability/durability
(ruggedness). Both these spaces are dominated by Nokia which is perceived to be the most reliable,
tough and down-to-earth phone, thought Apple is the most cheerful (53%) of the lot, adding further
to the aspirational value quotient.
2. Samsung
They are one of the largest consumer electronics manufacturers in the world. They not only make
mobile phones, but an entire range of consumer durable devices from refrigerators and washing
machines to televisions and computers. Samsung is well known for the variety it is able to offer in all
of these categories. Samsung had been making a wide range of phones before the launch of the
iPhone, but after the launch they have focused mainly on bringing both low-cost and class-leading
smartphones to the market at lower prices. They had their sights firmly fixed at the top spot which
was held by Apple not too long ago, and have successfully reached the top in terms of sheer volume.
In terms of the brand, it is a mostly distant second to Apple, but constantly ahead of Nokia on many
counts. Leading Nokia by a fair margin on the excitement front, Samsung is more daring (22%) and
up-to-date (27%). It does fairly well on the competence and sophistication counts, being rated as
more intelligent and more charming (15% each) than Nokia and marginally more upper-class. But
Nokia is perceived to be a more successful brand, probably owing to the history and presence of the
brand.
3. BlackBerry
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Research In Motion, a Canadian telecommunications firm, can be considered to be a major success
in terms of building the BlackBerry brand because the name is synonymous with its category and is
much more well known than RIM itself. BlackBerry is known for making mobile phones which are
focused on providing enterprise services to their customers. They have a distinctive design which
has become synonymous with the form-factor. Recently, RIM has made the foray into making
devices for everyone instead of just focusing on enterprise customers. Unlike Apple and Samsung,
BlackBerry does much better on the sincerity front, coming a distant second to Nokia on the basis of
down-to-earth (9%) and honesty (15%). It is also considered to an upper-class brand (20%) ahead of
Nokia and Samsung due to the premium and features and prices and the image of being a product
used by serious professionals. It also fairs well on ruggedness and reliability (9% each) compared to
Apple and Samsung.
Overall, Nokia rules the roost in terms of reliability, ruggedness and sincerity. This can be attributed to
the wide range of Nokia devices in the low-cost segments, which were the first ever phones that many
people had owned. In particular, devices like the Nokia 1100, which was a global phenomenon and
still holds the title of being the single largest selling mobile phone model in the world (250 million
units), have cemented Nokia’s brand image as a highly durable and rugged device. The areas where it
lags behind are Excitement, Competence and Sophistication, all of which play an important role in the
purchase decision of the consumer. Hence, the Nokia brand has suffered immensely in the past few
years as it has not been able to innovate in the right direction so as to keep up with the competition.
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Nokia’s Brand Equity Rankings 2011
35
Nokia’s brand image has indeed suffered a setback in 2011 which is evident from its rankings in the
current year. It managed to garner the top rank in only the All India Brand Trust Ranking. This lays stress
on the fact that Nokia is still a formidable force in India and that it is high time for it reconsider its
branding strategies in order to regain the trust and faith of customers worldwide.
Respondent Profile
The respondents were mostly present NOKIA
users (51.11%) though around 95 % of the
users were previous or existing ones hence had
a fairly good idea of NOKIA phone
performance.
Nokia SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis as a tool helps an organization understand where it stands. Conducting a SWOT
analysis of Nokia makes us understand where Nokia stands in the market:
Strengths
Brand Name: Nokia has a strong brand name which works in its favour especially in the
event of launching new products as the brand has high recall value in the minds of the
customers enabling strong brand association.
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Global Distribution Network: Enables easy availability of products across different
markets.
Financial Strength: It serves as the backbone for the company enabling it to concentrate
on innovations.
Ease of Use: Nokia is known for its user friendly products which make it popular among
users irrespective of how savvy they are with gadgets.
Varied Range: Nokia has a wide range of products which makes it an attractive brand.
Also the products have a relatively decent resale value which increases its popularity
especially in markets like India.
Weaknesses
Price: Nokia products are priced higher as compared to other substitutes like Micromax,
Samsung and Spice, though this gets covered by the quality and reliability of its
products.
Unable to keep up with the times: Nokia has been unable to keep up with the times
and has been a follower so far as innovativeness is concerned for the better part of the
last decade.
Size: Nokia suffers from being the behemoth market leader susceptible to ‘attacks’ from
emerging and established competitors.
Difficulty of use in recent products: Nokia’s newer models are somewhat difficult to use
which has caused an erosion of trust in the brand.
Opportunities
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Identifying New Markets: Nokia can leverage its position as Market leader by expanding
to newer markets.
Changing Price Structure: Price change can help it position itself as a more economical
option thereby enabling it to capture greater market share.
New Product Range: A more attractive product range can bring it in sync with changing
tastes and preferences and introduce it to a new target market.
Riding the crest of the telecommunication boom: Nokia is well suited to exploit the
global telecommunications boom to seal its position as the market leader and expand its
reach and market share.
Reputation building: Through aggressive advertisements and effective market
communication thus building the brand image further.
Threats
Competition: Entry of more competitors as a result of excessive growth of the industry.
Price War: Nokia is facing a price war from the competitors threatening its market
share.
Growth of WLL: Nokia’s forte lies with CDMA technology, while WLL phones are going
from strength to strength.
Innovation: Innovation on the part of the competitors threatens Nokia’s hold over the
market.
Conclusion and Recommendation
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NOKIA has been a top performing brand and a market leader by market share all along . It
enjoys strong loyalty and is perceived as a reliable, value for money brand however with the
advent of Apple and other high end phones using newest technologies to woo the customers
especially the youth , the market share for NOKIA has been declining . As can be seen clearly
from the results of the survey, Nokia has established itself as a reliable and rugged mobile
phone brand. But these aren’t the only factors that determine the purchase decision of the
customer. With the increase in the use of mobile internet and rapid advances in mobile
technology, the customers are moving towards smarter and faster mobile phones.
Smartphones, which used to be a core area of strength for Nokia in the past, have changed
drastically after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and Nokia has not kept pace with this
development. Its market share in this segment has been completely obliterated by the iPhone
and devices manufactured by Samsung and other leading brands running on Android. These
brands have made the smartphones more exciting, competent and sophisticated and Nokia has
fallen behind. To regain its lost market share, Nokia needs to reinvent itself and introduce an
entirely new range of smartphones which capitalize on Nokia’s strengths of reliability, which
none of the other brands have, and combines it with new elements which create excitement.
Hence NOKIA needs to be innovative and should update the features of its phone to delight the
customers and regain its market share . The brand needs to been seen as cool and happening
by the youth which are the major segment driving Apple’s sales in India .
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Questionnaire- Is Nokia Connecting with the People?
This survey is aimed at collecting information about the consumer perception of the NOKIA brand. Thank you for helping us.
Are you an existing or previous user of a NOKIA phone? *
( ) Existing ( ) Previous ( ) Never Used
Which brand do you recall first when thinking of a mobile phone? *
( ) NOKIA ( ) APPLE ( ) BLACKBERRY ( ) SAMSUNG ( ) Other:
If you have an intention to buy a mobile phone, which brand will you prefer the most? *
( ) NOKIA ( ) APPLE ( ) BLACKBERRY ( ) SAMSUNG ( ) Other:
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Strongly Agree
AgreeNeither
Agree nor Disagree
DisagreeStrongly Disagree
Pl indicate your preference
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Strongly Agree
AgreeNeither
Agree nor Disagree
DisagreeStrongly Disagree
Pl indicate your preference
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Strongly Agree
AgreeNeither
Agree nor Disagree
DisagreeStrongly Disagree
Pl indicate your preference
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Strongly Agree
AgreeNeither
Agree nor Disagree
DisagreeStrongly Disagree
Appealing ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
High Quality ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Pleasant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Popular ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
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Strongly Agree
AgreeNeither
Agree nor Disagree
DisagreeStrongly Disagree
Prestigious ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Smart & Stylish ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Expensive ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Reliable ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Properly Advertised ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Easily Available ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
NOKIA APPLE BLACKBERRY SAMSUNG
Down to Earth ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Honest ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Cheerful ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Daring ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Imaginative ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Up-to-Date ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Reliable ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
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NOKIA APPLE BLACKBERRY SAMSUNG
Intelligent ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Successful ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Upper Class ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Charming ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Tough ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
1 2 3 4 5
Design ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Camera ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Video ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Music ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Software ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Connectivity ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Battery ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Availability ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Reliability ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
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1 2 3 4 5
After-sales Service ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Value for money ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Brand Reputation ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Adds prestige to your image
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Software updates ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Rugged ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Delicate ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Nokia Apple Samsung Blackberry
Always maintains high level of quality
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Worth its price ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
I prefer this brand ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
I will recommend this to others
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
It has something that other brands don't have
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
It gives a feeling of sense ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
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Nokia Apple Samsung Blackberry
and pride to others
I am a loyal user of this brand
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
It is a very special brand and I have unique feelings
about it( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Please enter your name. *
Please specify your gender. *
( ) Male ( ) Female
Please select the age group you belong to. *
( ) 21-25 years ( ) 25-30 years ( ) 30-40 years ( ) > 40 years
Which brand of mobile phone are you currently using? *
( ) Nokia ( ) Apple ( ) Samsung ( ) Blackberry ( ) Other:
[Submit]
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