Nokia has created a Lumia Roadshow Bus as part an on-going campaign to promote the business credentials of its Windows Phone 8 Lumia handsets. The eye-catching bus, which will be on tour through out the UK for the rest of the year, provides a demo show room and training centre on wheels. 

The bus can also be seen as part of Nokia's wider campaign to drive "product awareness and consideration". Nokia, especially in the UK, is well aware that it faces entrenched competitors in the form of Android and iOS, and has repeatably said it believes that making consumers and businesses aware of its products and their full range of capabilities is a necessary step before potential purchasers will consider buying a Lumia handset.

Moreover, once Lumia products become part of any purchase decision, it is clear that Nokia believes it has a competitive product line-up, something that certainly seems to be born out by products reviews and high consumers ratings. The Lumia Roadshow Bus will therefore aim to get this "consideration" message to places that other marketing campaigns can not reach. 

Lumia Roadshow Bus

On the outside of the bus is the familiar Lumia Live Tile graphic along with slogans exhorting a switch to Lumia: "Don't compromise, switch the world's best smartphone" and promoting the business capabilities of the Lumia handsets: "Do business anywhere".

The lower deck features an extensive demo areas where the latest Lumia products and accessories are showcased. The area has a similar look and feel to the Lumia pods used in some flagship high street stores, but is obvisouly significantly bigger (despite being inside a bus). It's clear the design team has gone to a lot of trouble to create an area that complements the design aesthetic of the Lumia line up.

Upstairs there's a coffee area and meeting room, centred around a corion table with recessed light boxes, phone charging pads and hidden hatches for presentation cables, ideal, either as a mobile board room, or as a training area.

Travelling with the bus is a dedicated team of training and demo specialists, who are to explain the technology (wireless charing, 4G) and demonstrate a selection of apps and services (Drive, City Lens, Office, and so on).

The bus was commissioned for Nokia by JWT from The Bus Business, a company that specialises in customising and fitting out buses.