Nokia Siemens Networks starts branding voyage

Singapore - The April merger between selected parts of Nokia and Siemens formed independent company Nokia Siemens Networks - head of marketing for APAC, Anders Kager and marketing communications and channels management, Karen Low spoke to Marketing on the brand plan.

"The brand is all about dialog. We are coming from two very strong parent brands but we are more then just a sum of two. We look different from the other brands in the B2B space where everyone's saying the same thing - I am the leader and I am the most innovative etc. So for us when we created a brand, we wanted it to be different, fresh and energetic. Not boring old suits - so that's why the colours are different and our brand mark is the wave - we're flexible. Purple and yellow I don't think you're going to see many vendors using this colour," Low said.

Branding is more than fancy logo artwork however and Kager insists the company is now trying to "engage all our employees into understanding that we are all ambassadors of the brand" and that "we always represent the brand". One of the ways Nokia Siemens Networks has tried to do this was through a mobile portal launch, where employees could go in and celebrate the brand through various online options available - the most popular action turned out to be the downloading of the brand's ring tone.

Since its formation, Nokia Siemens Networks has already launched small branding initiatives and Low tells Marketing that its appearance in the soon to be wrapped up regional ICT exhibition and conference, CommunicAsia 2007 as a big opportunity.

"CommunicAsia 2007 is perfect because it's our regional brand launch - this is the first time that everyone has seen us together. In the time since our launch, we shared our look and feel in a very subtle way but here this is the time where we want to make a big bang. So you might have seen something when you were coming through the airport as we've got airport buy there as well as ads in the AWSJ as well," Low said.

"We have some BTL activities that we are doing, but what we want to do really is to bring the brand closer to customers, so here in Singapore we are going to be doing some activities where we actually talk to customers about what the brand stands for and what does it mean to the people - in a B2B2C world, the people that make up the company are very key. It's all about what kind of people we are and what differentiates us from other competitors," she said.

Nokia Siemens Networks has already started setting up small café areas within operator's corners where, in addition to regular messages like solutions offering, staff have been instructed to take a hands on approach and to engage customers on a more meaningful level.

The company, which combined Nokia's Networks Business Group and the carrier related businesses of Siemens Communications, provides mobile and fixed network infrastructure solutions and according to Kager, was borne out of the enormous pressure in the telecom industry where "profit margins are going down and industry needs to consolidate".

"It's the same thing in the handset business so Nokia and Siemens were in a position where it was a strategic as well as a business driven decision," he said.

Kager went on to tell Marketing that amongst the challenges he faces with limited budgets and making the brand known as a global brand rather than an European brand - the biggest branding challenge starts from within the organisation itself.

"Internally I think a lot of people are so in love with the mother brands so they compare and say why isn't it this and why isn't it that and I think of course these people don't have experience in marketing and branding, they are maybe an engineer for example, and they have their own perception so that's a challenge for us - to internally articulate and make them as passionate as we are about our brand," he said.