Nokia Corp., the world’s leading handset maker, is taking a new direction on its estimated $300 million-plus review of its advertising account.
Nokia is dividing the pitch into two parts: creative and creative strategy and network distribution. Three advertising firms are participating for each piece of the business. WPP Group’s JWT, along with independents Wieden & Kennedy and Mother, are gunning for the creative account.
JWT is also looking to score the network distribution portion, as are corporate siblings Grey Worldwide, the marketer’s agency in the U.S., Europe and parts of the Middle East, and Bates, Nokia’s shop in Asia, and Omnicom Group’s DDB Worldwide.
A decision is expected by mid-year.
A Nokia spokesman declined to discuss the review or the contenders. “We do not comment on our ongoing business negotiations, nor should anyone with whom we may be negotiating,” he said in an e-mail.
When the review was announced, Nokia said it aimed to become “the most loved and admired, iconic brand by people around the world.”
Nokia is the world’s leading cellphone maker, but lags in the U.S. Nokia spent $49 million in the U.S. in 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
Brooke Capps contributed to this report. Capps, Alice Z. Cuneo and Normandy Madden are reporters with Advertising Age, a sister publication of RCR Wireless News. Both publications are owned by Crain Communications Inc.
