Last Try

Nokia was doing this campaign thing around Berlin Fashion Week—pop-up cafe, models, shooting for the C7. You could smell the panic dressed up as strategy. Partner with fashion, collaborate with photographers, put beautiful young people in your ads. It’s what you do when you know something’s wrong but you’re not ready to admit it.

I remember the posters. They looked great—solid photography, beautiful models, the whole aesthetic was right. But everyone already knew what was coming. The phone didn’t matter. The fashion tie-in didn’t matter. None of it could change the fundamental thing that was already happening. They tried though. They really tried. There’s something almost beautiful about that—a big company swinging at a pitch it knows is already past them.