Motorola targets women with Jewel handset launch

Motorola is to increase its focus on the female market with the launch of a handset aimed at women. The Moto Jewel will be Motorola’s biggest launch since the Razr.

The handset is a flip-top phone in the shape of a jewel, and it will be backed with a major ad campaign. The phone launches in November and will initially be available through an exclusive contract with the Carphone Warehouse.

It is understood the phone and marketing will take its cue from this month’s London Fashion Week, where shows featured giant jewels. It will also come with a clutch bag-shaped case that can hold other items, such as a lipstick, as well as the phone.

The handset features a 2-megapixel camera and music facility but also has an “OLED” (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, which means it has a better range of colour, brightness and viewing angle than ordinary phone screens. A source says: “When closed, it looks like it is alive.”

Motorola launched limited edition versions of its Razr model in 2005. It also recently launched its pink and purple female version of its U9 handset. The launch was accompanied by a campaign created by Ogilvy Advertising, with the strapline: “Are You Pink or Purple?”

Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawston says: “The female market is a bonus for Motorola as it usually aims at the male side. In terms of a marketing device, it’s a very good initiative.”

Motorola recently overhauled its marketing team ahead of the split of its handset unit next year. Earlier this month, the company appointed former BT marketer Simon Collinson as director of marketing strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (MW September 4). It also poached back former head of marketing James King from Samsung as its European marketing director (MW August 28).