Nokia, the smartphone king of yesteryears, on Sunday unveiled a refreshed logo at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2023, as part of its long-term strategic transformation and focus on aggressive growth.
The new refreshed logo distances the company from consumer products, especially smartphones – something it stopped making a decade ago.
Launched by Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO of Nokia, the new logo aims to focus on B2B (Business to business) technology innovation to drive digitalization across every industry.
“In most people’s minds, we are still a successful mobile phone brand, but this is not what Nokia is about. We want to launch a new brand that is focusing very much on the networks and industrial digitalization, which is a completely different thing from the legacy mobile phones,” Lundmark said in an interview ahead of the MWC in Barcelona on Sunday.
The new logo contains five different shapes that form the word ‘NOKIA’. Also, the iconic yale blue color in the logo is now replaced with a range of colors depending on the use. It emphasizes the value Nokia brings in networking expertise, technology leadership, pioneering innovation, and collaborative partnership.
“The company’s new logo is emblematic of an energized, dynamic, and modern Nokia, demonstrating its values and purpose. It has been designed as a symbol of collaboration, which Nokia believes to be critical for realizing the exponential potential of networks: unlocking gains in sustainability, productivity, and accessibility,” the company said in a press release.
“This is Nokia, but not as the world has seen us before. Our new brand signals who Nokia is today. We’re unleashing the exponential potential of networks and their power to help reshape the way we all live and work,” Nokia said in a Twitter post.
This is Nokia, but not as the world has seen us before. Our new brand signals who Nokia is today. We’re unleashing the exponential potential of networks and their power to help reshape the way we all live and work. https://t.co/lbKLfaL2OI #NewNokia pic.twitter.com/VAgVo8p6nG
— Nokia #MWC23 (@nokia) February 26, 2023
Besides unveiling the refreshed brand logo, Nokia also announced its updated company strategy. When Lundmark took over the position at the Finnish company in 2020, he at that point in time had set out a three-phased strategy to deliver sustainable, profitable growth, which is reset, accelerate, and scale.
With the reset stage now complete, Lundmark said that Nokia will continue to accelerate (which is the second stage) while laying the foundation for the scale phase.
The company’s refreshed company strategy is based on six pillars for further acceleration:
- Grow market share with service providers, driven by continued technology leadership;
- Expand the share of Enterprises within its customer mix;
- Continue to manage its portfolio actively, to ensure a path to a leading position in all segments where it decides to compete;
- Seize opportunities from sectors beyond mobile devices to monetize Nokia’s IP and continue to invest in R&D for Nokia Technologies;
- Implement new business models, such as as-a-Service; and
- Develop ESG into a competitive advantage and become the “trusted provider of choice” in the industry.
In order to achieve the above pillars, Nokia has four key enablers: develop future-fit talent; invest in long-term research, especially in key domains such as 6G; digitalize its own operations to further enhance agility and productivity; and refresh the brand.
Although Nokia’s primary emphasis is now selling gear to other businesses that include private 5G networks and equipment for automated factories, the company still wants to expand its service provider business.
“Our enterprise business grew by 21% last year and currently accounts for about 8% of our sales, (or) about 2 billion euros, and we hope to sell it as soon as possible. Up to double digits. The signal is very clear, we only want to get into businesses where we can see global leadership,” Lundmark said.
