Lumia Knockout on Wheels – Microsoft India's new initiative to showcase budget Lumia phones

As Microsoft India announced the launch of Lumia 430, the most affordable budget Lumia device as yet, it also leveraged the opportunity to announce the company's first ever outreach campaign in smaller cities and towns of India for Lumia devices.

The Lumia Knockout on Wheels has been conceptualized to demonstrate the uncompromised and unparalleled smartphone experience on the Lumia 430. The drive flags off from New Delhi, and will cover over 20 cities across the country taking the Windows Phone experience to tier 2, tier 3, and tier 4 towns in the country for the first time.

As part of this experiential initiative, consumers will be challenged to a face-off between their existing smartphone and the newly launched Lumia 430 to showcase the superiority of the Windows Phone experience. Consumers will be asked to perform the most common operations on the Lumia 430 as well as their existing phones, to showcase the superiority – hardware and software – of the Windows operating system and the Lumia 430.

Acknowledging the diversity of the country, the company shared that the marketing collateral for the activity has been created in nine different languages.

At the launch of the initiative, Ravi Kunwar, Director-North, Nokia India, a subsidiary of Microsoft Mobile Oy, said:

"We will take the Lumia 430 to consumers via Knockout on Wheels to build familiarity with the Windows Phone ecosystem and demonstrate the consistent and uncompromised experience that the Windows Operating System offers across price points."

The innovative, offline medium to showcase the uncompromised Windows experience offered on the Lumia 430 and other budget devices is a great initiative, and reminds me of Nokia's similar efforts almost a decade ago, playing a key role in the mobile phone boom in the country.

Abhishek Baxi