2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

Nokia’s Midnight Developer competition challenged university students in the Middle East and Africa to create innovative apps and games for the newly launched Windows 8 mobile platform. To build awareness about the competition, Nokia wanted to release an online game that would attract developers, as well as University students in general.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

For Nokia, it was important that unique design of Windows 8 mobile was integrated into the game. This led to Tileboy: a one touch game built directly into the Midnight Developer Facebook app. Tileboy linked retro Nokia games like the pixelated Snake, to the Metro design of Windows 8 mobile. The main feature of Windows’ Metro design is live tiles, so our pixelated hero brought a tile to life through constant movement. Tileboy is always moving forward, so the user simply taps the spacebar to make him jump for coins, phones and even local animals (in his Kandora of course)!

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Tileboy was the buzz builder that Nokia aimed for. After 2 months, over 16,000 unique users played the game from all over the world, even reaching as far as the US. Of the 16,000+ that played, over 20% played multiple times. Most importantly, over 600 teams entered the competition. All this was achieved organically through the Facebook page of Nokia, as there were no major ATL or BTL campaigns to promote the competition.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Metro, the design style of Windows 8 mobile, is integrated throughout the game. The game's hero is in a live tile and the final level of the game is filled with Metro's tiles and colors. The top scorers of the game also win Nokia's Windows 8 phone, the Lumia 920. It's the same phone that players can grab in the game for extra points.