In this customer engagement project both the SAE students and emerging artists of Nokia Trends Lab are actively involved: an effective co-marketing, in line with the objectives of recruiting and placement of the brand. Part of the Nokia Trends Lab, a platform dedicated to music and entertainment on the move, which IAKI has built for NOKIA and that we operate since 2006, with 4 years of digital strategy, online contests, social media and wom, digital pr, community marketing, events and promo tour and festival.

Sandro Marchetti, CEO of IAKI, explains the details of the initiative.

How did the partnership with SAE, the school leader in the formation of Audio Engineering, start?

The collaboration came about as part of the Nokia Trends Lab, an integrated platform for online and offline that we made, which has been the main tool for positioning and tracking of Nokia in the world of music, with a strong integration of devices, contents and services. A huge repository of digital content, interactive events on field and special events such as contests and music competitions of creativity, complemented by the portal Nokiatrendslab.it, are the pillars of the project. The site, in particular, has long been a reference point for emerging musicians and has been throughout 2009 continued in The Lab, a real laboratory (at La Casa 139 Milan), where artists could meet, experiment create, in collaboration with experts and industry partners. Among these were precisely SAE teachers who have held workshops and hearings.

What was this customer engagement project all about?

After previous collaborations, we decided to make money from the parntership with SAE more effectively, for an ambitious and quality project, but with a limited budget. The idea was to combine on the one hand the need for SAE to offer its students opportunities to experiment and work and on the other hand the desire to find new opportunities to showcase for young musicians Nokia Trends Lab. The next step was immediate: make a record of emerging… with emerging technicians! But of course with the supervision and tutorship of professionals. We started organizing the hearings for certain selected groups of Nokia Trends Lab, under the supervision of SAE teachers and Midfinger Records producers. The 4 selected were thus able to record their own music in the studios of SAE with students of Audio Engineering and Bachelor in Recording Arts. The songs were finally included in the “SAE Live Compilation” signed MidFinger, first distributed digitally in Nokia Music Store and on 2nd November in all record stores. Among the various initiatives to promote the launch, we released a viral widget that sends rotation songs, photos and information on the compilation.

What are the necessary skills to work in such a project?

Many and varied. This kind of operations need to combine effectively the online and offline activities, as well as having expertise on the vertical subject matter. In the specific case IAKI has built a team of enthusiasts and experts in the world of music, which led to a very high professional contribution to the entire project. From the practical point of view, the results can be achieved by carefully managing project activities (organization of events such as hearings, the coordination between the field and digital, to the management of many contractual and legal aspects) and in parallel a good use of communication tools put in place (website, deming, banners), who must work together to create the first participation, and to give visibility to the initiative.