2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

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. The objective of the campaign was to increase awareness about the competition and inspire student developers to participate.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Students, especially developers, are highly competitive, and aspire 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 and lets them play against each other in an action game featuring robots or space crafts. To start the banner game, a student chose his/her University and was captured via webcam. The banner then connected to another student viewing the banner at the same time. At the end of the game, students were invited to play again or enter the competition.

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

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.

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

Since students were competing against one another with the apps they created, playing against one another in a video game only fueled the competition more. The fact that students stated their University and were captured via webcam, made the competition as personal as possible. The random selection of the banner also kept the gameplay exciting as players never knew which University student would become a gaming enemy! The banners were placed on university websites and relevant media sites such as Wired.com. Sites like Wired are important as they are frequently visited by developers because of their tech/gadget content.