Nokia Launches Podcast To Spark Discussion Of How To #MakeTechHuman In Partnership With WIRED

While many may associate the Nokia brand solely with mobile devices (it dropped smartphones when it sold that business unit to Microsoft in 2013), the 150-year-old Finnish company is seeking to expand people’s conception of its brand.

The latest effort is a new podcast called #MakeTechHuman, launched as part of a year-long content marketing initiative with WIRED that began in March. The podcast, which is available on iTunes, as well as on the dedicated campaign microsite as a download and transcript, is hosted by The Nerdist’s Matt Mira. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

The first episode features Monica Lewinsky talking about cyber bullying, and Mira promises discussions of other important topics in future episodes:

Our goal with this podcast is to host a series of discussions and debates that will impact global discourse, human behavior and even product development and policymaking. Over the next few months, we’ll be exploring a number of core #maketechhuman issues, such as Artificial Intelligence, Privacy + Security, Connectivity, and Equity.

#MakeTechHuman aims to elevate Nokia to the level of other global technology companies  — such as Google, Apple and Microsoft — that are seen as driving the future of technology.

By hosting a discussion about how technology can best serve humanity and recruiting well-respected thought-leaders like Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Stephen Hawking to participate, the company hopes to engender support among tech aficionados while establishing its brand as one that cares about people, as well as business and technology.

“We wanted to dive deeper into the issues that people are talking about, the things they care about that truly will have an impact on our lives in the future,” Barry French, Nokia’s chief marketing officer said in a statement.

Here’s Stacey Brierley, Nokia’s global head of brand and corporate marketing, talking about the effort:

Previously, Nokia and WIRED have facilitated two Reddit AMAs (where a person invites the audience to “Ask Me Anything”) by Berners-Lee and Hawking. Both began their guest appearances by acknowledging Nokia and saying “Join me to talk about making the future of technology more human.”

The publication has then re-purposed the events into content on the microsite, such as an article titled The 10 Most Random Questions Reddit Asked Stephen Hawking. WIRED and Reddit share a corporate parent in Advance Publications.

As for the new podcast and all their joint efforts, Nokia and WIRED are promoting them in their social platforms:

By the way, Nokia now describes itself as focusing on three areas: network infrastructure, location intelligence and advanced technology development and licensing. But it’s rumored to be getting back into the smartphone business next year, when its non-compete agreement with Microsoft expires. After being in business for 150 years, pivoting is nothing new for Nokia.

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Pamela Parker

Pamela Parker is Executive Features Editor at Marketing Land, MarTech Today and Search Engine Land. She's a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since 1998. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ, and worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing.