On Wednesday in Hong Kong we had some free time during the day, which we spent walking around the Soho area. Later that evening we moved on to the Nokia event. I have to start with this: god damn it the food was GREAT!! I made a big mistake because I looked at one table with a lot of food and though oh, that should keep me happy tonight. I’m one of those that have to taste a little of everything that is offered, so I filled my plate up. When I had finished, I realized there were two more tables with more food. I had to compromise at that point (the dress didn’t have an unlimited amount of stretch), so I moved on to the dessert table and pretty much emptied that… you have no idea how much I love good food, and Nokia, you did an excellent job filling me up that night.

Then lets move on to the talking part of the event… I rarely discover patriotic sides of me, but when it comes to Nokia, I am. #noapplesforme is the point (never say never, but right now I don’t feel I need any Apple), if I can support something from my home country that I honestly feel is equally as good as what other companies offer, then of course I will stick with Nokia (like I have done all my life, since the age of 9-10 or so I’ve had Nokia phones! I think the 5110 was my first one!).

Also one discussion we had on this trip was “Nokia vs. Apple”, and I feel that Apple is a corporate (or cult, like one said) and Nokia is not only a corporate, but also a great community. Nokias social media presence is incredible: they have Facebook pages in several countries and they use them 100% (and you will always get your questions answered there, so they really seem to care about their customer). They use Twitter to engage people. They have WOMWorld that send free mobile phone trials all over the world so YOU can fall in love with Nokia, and also arrange events like this Hong Kong trip that the whole community can follow. Nokia sponsor amazing events, from Neste Oil Rally to Finnish championships in skateboarding to music festivals. But it’s not only a big NOKIA sign you see at the event: they will be there to share the experience with you, they will come up with cool contests you can take part in and so on. So that’s really the difference. Nokia isn’t just a logo and a brand, it’s about people and the community. I would have liked to hear more of this during the speech in Hong Kong, because that is what you should sell – a people friendly brand with great products that is also a huge community with great people. Not just numbers, it’s not the numbers that matter, it’s the amount of people that truly support your brand.