Nokia Launches North American Student Advertising Initiative.

Nokia announced it has created a North American initiative of its college advertising program, The New U, which began as a pilot program with the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Two of the student ads created in the pilot were made into national TV spots and began airing in April.

Designed to find, foster and promote the best creative minds among university-level advertising programs, The New U provides students an opportunity to develop TV commercials for real products. Nokia will visit each participating school to provide students with an overview of the brand and the featured Nokia product. Students will then handle all aspects of ad creation including conceptualizing, copywriting, filming, editing and presentation to Nokia.

During the pilot program, Missouri advertising students were asked to design 30-second TV commercials demonstrating a new way to show your world with the new Nokia 3650 phone which features a built-in camera. Nokia is featuring eight ads produced by the students on its web site http://www.nokiausa.com/newu . The general public can view the ads online, select
the one they believe is the best and register for a chance to win a Nokia 3650.

“We held the students to the same criteria we would have our ad agency and we were thrilled with the ads that resulted,” said Debra Kennedy, general manager consumer marketing Nokia USA. “Once we realized the benefits of the program to the students, we knew we wanted to provide more students with the opportunity to gain valuable real-world experience and build their portfolios.”

The two Missouri School of Journalism ads selected by Nokia for production were produced by its advertising agency, Dallas-based The Richards Group. The students responsible for creating the spots were onsite for production and served as art directors at the advertising shoot.

The New U program will launch in the United States and Canada in August with the University of Texas, University of Colorado, Southern Methodist University, Missouri School of Journalism and Georgian College in Ontario scheduled to participate. One winning ad will be chosen each semester based on the online ranking conducted by consumers. Students who develop the winning ad for fall 2003 will win a trip to the Nokia Sugar Bowl, as well as the opportunity to attend a Nokia advertising shoot. All schools participating in the program will also receive a donation from Nokia. For information on how your university can qualify for The New U program, log on to http://www.nokiausa.com/newu