2013 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

The two games combined were played by more than 25 thousand unique users. Over 300 students registered for the competition, twice as much as Nokia aimed for. The competition was so successful that Nokia decided to make it an annual challenge.

Creative Execution

The online banner game starts with the Nokia N9 smart phone transforming into either a robot or space craft. Next, a student chooses his/her University and is captured via webcam, making the competition as personal as possible. The banner then connects to another student viewing the banner at the same time. The random selection keeps the gameplay exciting as you never know which University student would become your gaming enemy! Players were given 30 seconds to defeat their opponent. At the end of the game, the student was invited to play again or enter the competition. The banners were placed on university websites and relevant media sites such as Wired.com. Sites like Wired are important to the target audience as they are frequently visited by developers because of their tech/gadget content.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Nokia launched the University App Challenge for student developers in the UAE. Students were challenged to create locally relevant apps for Nokia smartphones. The competition winners would have their apps promoted in Nokia’s app store, as well as receive a Nokia internship. While student developers were highly familiar with Nokia smart phones, they did not have direct access to development tools and expert advice until this competition. Our insight was that students, especially developers, were highly competitive, and aspired to outdo each other. Based on this insight, and the technical nature of the competition, we created an online banner campaign that connects two students in real time to and allows them to play against each other in an action game.