The latest announcement from Espoo is that Nokia has launched a new section on Nokia.mobi: Here and Now, which “provides the latest world news, music, celebrity buzz, as well as information on Nokia services and products”.
The rationale behind the site – if I paraphrase Tom Henriksson, Head of Nokia Interactive Advertising correctly – is to provide more infotainment inventory to attract both consumers and advertisers.
From the consumer side, they have to be able to access the site first, and given that the link to the site was not working when I tried, and tried, and tried, to get in, they may have to look for the latest world news et al elsewhere. (As I did – thanks, BBC News, and your site is working perfectly, by the way.)
So unfortunately I am not capable of speaking with authority on the precise nature of the world news, music and celebrity buzz that lurks beyond the link at nokia.mobi. But even assuming that when a consumer gets in, and that the content he or she finds is very good (and with partners such as Reuters and Rolling Stone, you would expect it to be), will it make Nokia any money?
The problem is that Nokia has launched an ad-funded site at the precise moment that adspend is falling through the floor, and companies are being obliged to reduce online cost per clickthrough (CPC) rates by a significant degree. Given that most major brands have only just started to string together mobile campaigns that integrate with their offerings in other media (up until 2007 most were just dipping their toes in the water with the occasional, cautious ad hoc advertisement), it seems unlikely that the present economic conditions will enable them to free up any additional budget in the short term.
Realistically, the best Nokia can hope for is to use the site to emphasise its shift from vendor to Internet service company, as a loss-leading, marketing tool for its own brand, rather than as a means of revenue generation.
Tags: CPC, Here and Now, mobile advertising, Nokia, nokia.mobi
