We already knew that developers were sold on the idea of Microsoft and Nokia joining forces to develop smartphones, but the hardest sell of all is the one that really matters: the consumer.

As such, Nokia's UK marketing director John Nichols and social media marketing director Craig Hepburn have revealed the firm has opted to take a more subtle approach to pushing the platform's new flagship device, Lumia 800.

Experience is key

Step one was getting the device into consumers' hands.

As a result, Nokia's pre-release testing – which saw thousands of consumers try the OS out – concluded that, once users had played with the platform, the majority preferred Windows Phone's UI to that of iOS and Android.

"[It was an] unprecedented seeding campaign, getting this device out to thousands of consumers and all store staff and call centres," Nichols said.

"When people experience this amazing hardware and fantastic OS, they just don't leave."

Adding up

The campaign hasn't been cheap, however, with a large proportion of the the device's marketing budget spent before Lumia 800 has hit the shop shelves.

"We haven't gone as far as the film industry, which spends about 93 percent of their [marketing] budget before a film's released - but we're not far off it," Nichols said.

"A huge part of our budget is gone before we even get this handset in the high street for sale."

Time will tell if the boost provided by early user experience will be enough for Lumia 800 to challenge iPhone 4S at the top of the gaming tree – an issue the PG.biz Mavens have been only too keen to discuss.



[source: mocoNews]