Last Wednesday, Nokia announced via Press Release that they had signed on as the Official Sponsor of the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Big title, no? Likely cost them quite a bit of change to get that title, so you would expect that they would make good use of it, especially as the Execs are talking about how they have a renewed focus on the U.S. market.
However, I watched slightly more than half of the Grammy’s (there’s only so much of that sort of thing I can handle), just to see what type of sponsorship they actually had. I was amazed that I did not see a single Nokia ad. In the half of the show that I did manage to see, I was exposed to 3-4 Sprint commercials, showing off various handsets, and plenty of other products that were marketed towards the tech-savvy audiophile – exactly who it seems Nokia’s targeting with its Nseries lately.
However, ONLY because I read the Press Release, I knew to check my N95’s Video Center, where I was able to download some cool video content, but how would the Average Joe have known that?
I’m constantly amazed at the complete lack of advertising that Nokia does in the U.S., for any handset, be it the entry-to-mid-level 6555, which is actually doing remarkably well on AT&T’s network, or the higher-end Nseries handsets the company sells unlocked to the masses.
Did anyone see ANY sign of Nokia at the Grammy’s? Please prove me wrong, but I can’t help but feel they skipped a tremendous opportunity there.