Nokia to splash £80m on Windows Phone marketing push

Nokia is staking a whopping £80m to promote its forthcoming range of Windows Phone handsets, according to reports.

Marketing Magazine reckons the ailing Finnish giant is gearing up for a six-month advertising blitz in a bid to put the company and the Microsoft OS back in the big time.

With profits and market share down, forecasts suggesting it may struggle to break even this year and the loss of 7,000 jobs, the re-branding effort could be seen as a last throw of the dice for Nokia.

Calculated

The marketing campaign is set to commence in October, just before the yet-to-be-announced, first Windows Phone-running Nokia handset arrives.

Despite a seemingly obviously calculated leak, on the official side of things Nokia is playing it cool.

"We are excited about the Nokia with Windows phone, but it's not our policy to comment on specific campaigns for unannounced products," read a statement that accompanied the report.

Critical

The Windows Phone and Nokia partnership is absolutely critical to the continuing existence of both entities.

Nokia needs a strong software partner after years of persisting with Symbian sent the company into the smartphone abyss, while Microsoft needs a high-profile hardware manufacturer that isn't also offering Android phones.

Earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admitted that the Windows Phone platform has endured an unsuccessful first year, going from "very small to very small" since its launch.

Source: Marketing Magazine