Notes from the (mobile) mediascape: Nokia bets on ads and UGC

Between a new ad network and a way for mobile users to make their own games, Nokia's dialled into innovation.

Nokia recently launched its global Nokia Media Network – a premium advertising network including over 70 publishers and operators as well as Nokia media properties – and followed it up with a new title that lets users share and mix their own mobile games.

Partners on the Nokia Media Network include AccuWeather, Discovery, Hearst, Reuters and Sprint – and the network is, for some audiences, achieving click-through rates averaging 10% in certain channels. Advertisers can place ads on publisher and operator mobile Web pages, as well as Nokia properties, representing a global consumer reach of more than 100 million mobile consumers. Nokia’s marketing team has created mobile campaigns for brands such as BMW, Paramount and MobiTV.

Nokia also launched Yamake, a game for the N-Gage made-for-mobile gaming platform that makes it possible for players to create their own games from a range of mini-games. The game’s design tools enable each mini-game to be transformed by the player’s personal content – text, pictures, sound clips and movies from the mobile device or PC – creating their favorite mini-games, such as picture puzzles and quizzes. Players can share their mobile mini-games via the N-Gage Arena, the Yamake community and multimedia messages between N-Gage-compatible and other devices.