Philip Hickey

Gulp.  The World’s Largest Stop-Motion Animation Shot on a Nokia N8.

This was to be the last big piece of marketing for the Nokia N8 and I wanted to make sure it went out with a bang while reiterating the brand position that Nokia makes amazing hardware - and its cameras are industry leading.  And what better way to go big then getting in the Guinness Book of World Records by shooting the world’s biggest stop-motion animation on a beach in Wales with sand artist Jamie Wardley + two Nokia N8’s.  Make sure you watch the behind the scenes here.

This was the follow up to my great friend Daniel Goodall’s award-winning DOT campaign.  If DOT was the Yin, then GULP was the Yang.  Aardman killed it on both of them!

In a down time for Nokia where the media was starting to give up hope for the company’s future - this was a sign of life and showed Nokia wasn’t dead yet.  This campaign got plenty of amazing PR and buzz.  The positive coverage started in the printed edition of the Metro UK and then started rolling from there.  A few great examples of amazing headlines include Mashable,  Gizmodo, Engadget, Wired, Fast Company and many, many others.  This was another project I received a glowing email from the Nokia CEO Stephen Elop thanking me on Nokia’s behalf.

On a sad note, this turned out to be Wieden + Kennedy’s swan song with Nokia.  But what a way to end!  I want to thank them for all their great work and it was a pleasure to work with one of the world’s greatest advertizing agencies (if not the greatest!).

Here is a nice recap of some of the best work from Nokia and w+k.  Does any of it look familiar? 

Thanks to Russell Anderson for being a great partner in crime on this project.

Agency = wieden+kennedy

Director = Aardman - Sumo Science

Gulp.  The World’s largest Stop Motion Animation Shot on a Nokia N8.  

The Making of.

Nokia Shorts 2011 + WINNER - “Splitscreen:  A Love Story”

Nokia Shorts 2011, without a doubt, was my favorite project in my time at Nokia.  A project Russell Anderson, Kai Torstila and I drove entrepreneurial style with amazing results.  Did I say amazing?

Lets start off with a recap.   No need for me to write about the entire recap of the contest because the good people at Short of the Week already did.  Lets just say that every detail of the contest was meticulously detailed  and we couldn’t have had a better partner than Vimeo!  Adding some additional brilliant partners to the mix such as Empire, Vice and the Edinburgh Film Festival resulted in amazing synergies that could be seen in the wild success of the winning video - James W. Griffith’s stunning film - “Splitscreen:  A Love Story.”

And how they noticed.  In a stormy patch for Nokia, this was definitely some much needed sunlight.  The Wall Street Journal’s headline said it all:  ”At Last Some Good Press For Nokia!”  From there, it was an avalanche of kudos and recognition.  Some coverage highlights include The Huffington Post, Gizmodo & Adweek.  The winning video was broadcast on CBS, France 24 News & BBC Click.  It spread like wildfire on Twitter when David Pogue tweeted to his 1.4 million followers.  And even our Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, wrote to me on email saying how much he loved the marketing initiative - even watching the final video twice.  

The quality of the entries and the winning video’s results were even better than we could have imagined!  The winning video alone has more that 2 million views on Vimeo and over 18.5k likes while being shared more than 200k times on Facebook!  Legendary.

I can wait to see what the guys do with Nokia Shorts 2012!

Agencies = Carat + Luxus

Nokia Shorts 2011 - “The Adventures of a Cardboard Box”

Another one of my favorite Nokia Shorts 2011 entries.   Magical, but somehow wish it were slightly shorter.

Nokia Shorts 2011 - “A Fish Story”

One of my favorite videos from the final 8 of the Nokia Shorts 2011.  This video is so outstandingly Finnish, you actually become part Finnish watching it.

Nokia N8 Summer Sessions

In an continued effort to link the Nokia brand with entertainment and youth, my main man Mike Melazzo and I launched the Nokia N8 summer bootleg sessions with a cool Facebook app that Saara Bergström helped us with.  This made for nice editorial content over the summer showing off the Nokia N8’s amazing camera quality just in time for the summer festival season.  One of my favorite projects.

Besides the awesome performance of “People Say” by Portugal The Man, we had the Mercury Prize nominated Katy B performing “Broken Record.”

Next, The Raghu Dixit Project performed “I’m in Mumbai waiting for a miracle” after they gained fame on Jools Holland. 

Then, we had Young The Giant, performing “Cough Syrup” after their legendary San Francisco performance which earned them a spot on the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

We also had the UK Number 1 single “Don’t Go” performed incredibly by Wretch 32 ft. Josh Kumra. 

Additionally we had the Q magazine band to watch - Transfer - performing “Losing Composure.”

The Cults, belting out a great performance with “You know What I Mean.” 

Next up was NME darlings The Vaccines performing the summer hit “Wetsuit.” 

The amazing Ben Howard, performing the magnificient “The Wolves.”

Last, but certainly not least, is one of my favorite bands of 2011 - Mona - performing “Trouble’s On The Way.”

Agencies = Jack Morton + Propaganda + Ali Anselmo.

Nokia N8 Pink - Freedom

I led this unique campaign to resuscitate the slumping Nokia N8 and introduce the pink colorway.  WoW.  What better way to make the industry take notice of the Nokia N8 Pink than world-premiering the Sugababes comeback single and using some pop-inspired dancing dolls?  Not to mention a little fun with over-the-top product placement! 

This was easily the most controversial marketing asset I have ever been involved with.  So controversial, in fact, our VP of marketing would not return emails or calls when it was time to launch the campaign.  Classic!

So, as any great marketeer would do, I made the call and pushed the GO button.  Reactions were varied in the beginning, but success was imminent.  Here is an early horrible review from techcrunch.  Additionally, there was gizmodo covering the Nokia N8 Pink after they famously refused to review the Nokia N8.  #win.  It got a little better with Mashable.  And things started rolling when it was named Adweek’s Ad of the Day.  Not bad for a little online video!  It even became our CMO’s favorite marketing campaign.

This campaign was a lot of fun and included some interesting pieces such as a Phones4u massive UK partnering deal and a genius little Facebook App where you can put your own face on the main doll.  Go ahead and try it!

Craig Hepburn, Fergus Lynch and I also broke new ground with Nokia’s very first promoted trend for #pinkisfreedom.  It performed well, but became more of a social statement then a branded one.  That was ok.  And we finally got our Nokia Twitter handle verified which was in the cards for a long time.

#pinkwasfreedom

Agency = wieden+kennedy

Director = David Wilson - Props to David for the best Director’s treatment ever!

The Making of the Nokia N8 Pink - Freedom

The video is pretty self-explanitory after watching it.  It gives a good insight into the thinking and detail that went into this campaign that I launched. 

Did someone say lazertits? :-) Why is this a part of our modern pop genre? I will never know …. something to ponder.

Agency = wieden+kennedy

INAUSTIN

I commissioned this beautifully shot branded mini-documentary capturing the mood and pulse of what happens at SXSW.  Our Director of Brand, Aapo Bovelan exclaimed that this represents the most beautiful brand cinematography ever done for Nokia - truly authentic!”  

My colleague Darryl Pieber and I hope this will be the first of many fantastic “Connecting People Films” and we think the film captured the passion, energy and drive at SXSW as well as the importance of listening and learning.  The film contains nice interviews from influencers of interactive, film and music and - we think their words tell the story of why Nokia was there too and WHY its important for Nokia to be there.

The film was picked up by Muzu.tv and then was consequently picked up with the likes of NME and the Guardian.  I am sure this film will live in the long tail and will be leveraged next year building up to the next March’s festival!

Agency = Jack Morton

Director = David Masters

SXSW “Green Zone”

My colleague Mike Melazzo secured the official partnership with SXSW which included the environmental awareness area called “The Green Zone.”  I worked with Mike to make it awesome.  1000heads knocked it out of the park.  This included the human hamster wheel phone charger, solar powered phone charging and park benches made of recycled phones.

Great coverage in Popsop, SlashGear and TheNextWeb.

Sustainability is a priority for Nokia and its something every employee takes pride in contributing.

Agency:  1000heads

Chris Cornell exclusive performance at SXSW for #nokiaconnects

One very cool activity I was involved with my colleague Mike Melazzo at at SXSW was having Chris Cornell play an exclusive acoustic performance at our #nokiaconnects event.

The performance was amazing and created a queue around the block!

Additionally, as part of the deal, it was agreed to release a piece of content from the show captured only using Nokia N8 smartphones. Chis was recorded covering “Sad, Sad City” by local Austin Band - Ghostland Observatory.

I am sure this video will continue to live in the long tail and its great to have content that exists after events and add values to fans and advocates that were there as well as those who were not there.

Nokia N8 + Angry Birds Projection Mapping at SXSW

In all the madness at SXSW, I think this was one of the most fun and fresh marketing initiatives. Nokia + Rovio combined forces to present Angry Birds as it hasn’t been seen before - on a 150 foot wall using the latest projection mapping technologies!   Another version can be seen here at my man man, Vaibhav’s “The HandHeld Blog”.  Enjoy!

Agencies:  White Sheep (Isobar), The Mill, and Seeper.

Chris Cornell Solo Acoustic Show Trailer for #nokiaconnects show at SXSW 2011

A little trailer I had made for the Chris Cornell show in Austin, TX at the #nokiaconnects Belmont stage. 

Agency = 1000 heads

Nokia N8 + Angry Birds 3D Wall Projection Trailer

I want you to check it out Tuesday night March 15th for its encore performance.  Be there by 9pm at the Belmont in Austin, TX

Agency = 1000 Heads

Poodle Loop

Legendary music/documentary video I produced of which the soundtrack was made using Loop App by Warrior One.  This fun video is now part of the Nokia Brand Book.

Nokia, Wieden + Kennedy and the whole production team made sure that the fullest precautions and health and safety were taken on board as the number one priority while filming this video of this real trend in China!  

Agency = Wieden + Kennedy London

Director = Kim Gherig

Loop App Demo

I commissioned this demo film for the Loop App to supplement the Poodle Loop film.  A nice little demo and I really enjoyed the interesting art direction.

Agency = Wieden + Kennedy London

This was an app I produced as a fun and easy music making app to take advantage of the touch features of the Nokia N8, Nokia C7 and now - the Nokia E7.  I wanted our consumers to unleash their creativity in a fun and easy way through unique and compelling UGC.

About the app:

“Record your voice. Record the dog. Record your friends on the bus. With Loop, you can turn anything into music. Pre-programmed with 9 baselines to get you started, recording your own music couldn ’t be easier. Available free to Nokia N8 and Nokia C7 owners (and now Nokia E7!).”

Loop app was launched with very positive buzz and results as seen here and here.

We created some very cool demo and engaging video content, a depository for UGC in partnership with soundcloud - loopapp.net -  and a loop workshop at a famous recording studio in london hosted by our friends at 1000 heads.

Don’t be surprised to see more of this type of marketing activity in the future.

Agencies = W+K London + Symsource

This was a small tactical activity which I partnered with our brand team to aggregate as many presences for Nokia Nseries as possible into one nicely packaged landing page.

It was also an opportunity to use a real photo taken with the Nokia N8 and show off its amazing imaging capabilities.  Please do click through the flickr link on our Nokia Nseries flavors.me page to see James Burlands’ amazing Nokia N8 User Group and the stunning images that have been submitted from all corners of the Earth.

Flavors.me allows you to make a home page in minutes by combing social network profiles for an unified presence.

I plan on getting Nokia into as many of these channels as possible as long as we can add value.  Any suggestions?

This was an app developed for a better user experience.

Use App Stop to close all running applications instantly. App Stop also shuts down all hidden background tasks that are not visible in the built-in task switcher. Add App Stop to your home screen to shut down all applications with two presses of a button.

I am currently testing v2 that will have options for instantly closing internet and bluetooth connections.  

Available for all symbian^3 & S60 5th edition devices. 

UPDATE:  V2 is live.

Agency = Futurice

I, along with many others in the company, had long sought after a Nokia channel on Vimeo.  I really believe Vimeo is a great community full of passionate video enthusiasts full of positivity and creativity. I was patiently waiting for the right opportunity to approach Vimeo without doing a one-off marketing exercise similar to the very cool Honda and Tostidos activities. Instead, we wanted to participate with the community and help foster quality content creation.  The Vimeo approved mobile — the Nokia N8 — was a perfect fit.

A great opportunity came to get involved with the first ever Vimeo Festival & Awards and work on an idea with them for our channel.  I gathered a small team consisting of Kai Torstila and Russell Anderson with the blessing of a very supporting manager.  

The festival and awards were amazing!  Watch the incredible grand prize winning Last Minutes With ODEN.  Make sure you have some tissues with you.

Check out the Nokia HD channel and marvel at some amazing videos such as the Nokia N8 Announcement Sample Video, DOT, Dragonfly Love, The Commuter and the Nokia N8 Producers that were captured on the top-in-class HD recording smartphone.  We can’t wait to see what others will create with their Nokia N8.  Already, there is some amazing stuff trickling in.  Keep checking our channel for the upcoming TBD Nokia HD Grant program.  We are really excited about this program and are working through the final details!

In the meantime, I am looking forward to watching all the great videos from those of you that have a Nokia N8 in your possession!

Agency = Luxus Helsinki + Carat + Jussi Solja