Nokia seeks to market its new Windows Phone powered handsets to the youth of the world

With a brand name that no longer has the cache in cell phones that it used to have, Nokia says it plans on focusing the marketing of its new Windows Phone powered smartphones, at the youth of the world. John Nichols, head of Nokia's marketing in the U.K. and Ireland said that while the Finnish based firm already has a huge following among the young, it needs to make sure it has the partnerships and content that would appeal to teenagers.

Nichols hints that Nokia is going to go all out to force its way into the teen market. The executive said, "As a teenager, the brands I loved had an opinion and told me whether to engage with them or not. The trick is to remember to not just wade in; otherwise our personality could look like the drunken uncle dancing at the wedding." And with an 80 million GBP ($126 million USD) budget to work with in the U.K. and Ireland, it certainly sounds like Nokia is going all in to reach what Nichols calls the next generation of mobile phone buyers.

Nokia recently shook hands with U.K. X-Factor boy band One Direction to create a phone personalized by the group with added screensavers and ringtones. And instead of using the usual media to advertise, Nokia plans on making use of social media which it considers as a great way to reach the youth market. Nokia's new marketing strategy will be revealed on October 26th at Nokia World. In the U.K., Nokia trails only Apple in smartphone marketshare with an 18.6% slice of the market compared to Apple's 26.2%.

Besides trying to gain marketshare, Nokia needs to rid itself of the red ink that it spilled in the second quarter, the last period for which earnings are available. During that period, Nokia had a net loss of $521 USD as the company relied too much on sales of lower priced featurephones which carry a lower margin than smartphones.

source: MarketingWeek via WPCentral