Haygarth scoops Nokia project

Haygarth has been appointed to handle creative duties for Nokia’s sponsorship of television show The X Factor, in a further blow to Grey Worldwide’s grip on the handset manufacturer’s advertising account.

Haygarth won a two-way roster pitch against Grey London to produce idents for the sponsorship. The news comes just four months after Lowe was appointed to handle a £100m global advertising campaign for Nokia’s new N-Series handsets.

Lowe’s appointment to the Nokia roster was a major blow for Grey – the handset manufacturer’s main agency in Europe and the US – as Nokia is expected to put its entire advertising spend for this year behind the launch.

Haygarth will create a four-month campaign for the X Factor sponsorship, including five-, ten- and 15-second idents. The agency will manage the overall creative strategy for the sponsorship, implementing through-the-line activity, including trade and retail promotions, point-of-purchase material, interactive TV promotions, online work, radio promotions and product demonstrations.

Nokia UK head of marketing Simon Lloyd says: “This is a major sponsorship for us and our challenge is to make consumers understand that Nokia is by far the best handset to own.”

ITV Sales revealed last week that Nokia is to sponsor the new series of The X Factor, in a deal negotiated by SponsorCom (MW last week).