In order to sell this point to potential consumers, I leverged the capabilities of the World Wide Web. Previous contests proved to be the most popular sections of the Nokia Asia Pacific Web site and, no matter how involved they were, seemed to capture users’ attention for long periods of time. This allows a message to be absorbed and a USP to be clearly presented. So a contest using a fun, but overt, metaphor appeared to be the best course. The use of Shockwave Director also enabled the use of sound and animation.

The users were given clear instructions and hints about their task. They submitted their details plus answered a question asking them to describe their ideal phone of the future. This in order to get around local laws on gambling and to aid our parent ad agency, Bates, and Nokia in gathering research. After the mandatories they downloaded a relatively small Shockwave file that showed a hedge maze, a man standing in front of the entrance, four Nokia-button controls, a largish Nokia 5110 phone to the right and further instructions.

By pressing the four directional controls with their mouse, they could steer the character through the Maze at a running pace. A clock at the top counted down the number of seconds they had left to complete before failure. In fact, we programmed the game such that there was no way to finish in the allotted time. However, as the user passed one of three areas which was parallel to the entrance and exit, the Navi-Key on the Nokia 5110 would begin to glow in an obvious manner. Pressing it would cause the character to pull out a chainsaw and proceed, with loud noises, to begin slicing through the hedge rows until he was at the exit. Applause would ensue and the user’s name and time of completion would be entered into a list which Nokia could judge along with the answer to the previous question. The prizes being, naturally, the Nokia 5110.

The comments we received on this contest were extremely positive. People really understood the concept of the Navi-Key allowing them to “cut through” to the place they wanted to be in the shortest time possible. We also tied this to above-the-line advertising efforts for a fully integrated campaign.