After dropping its “Quietly Brilliant” tagline from its customer-facing campaigns, mobile manufacturer HTC has unveiled its most ambitious brand platform to date with a long-term integrated strategy.
The billion-dollar “Change” brand platform will embody the message that HTC inspires innovation by standing for “anything you want it to.”
The bigger question here is, will a billion-dollar marketing investment help turn HTC’s fortunes around? The company which faces stiff competition from the likes of Samsung and Apple, was one of the first to launch Android phones in the market. But stumbling market share since 2011 has raised questions over the company’s future.
HTC should have done this sort of bold campaign when it had the first-mover advantage introducing Android phones in 2008; this would have helped to define its brand, according to Lawrence Chong, CEO of Consulus.
“Now it’s like the party has moved on, and then you crash in with a new gig,” he said.
The smartphone industry has already matured since both the leaders, Samsung and Apple are consolidating their market share with very clear propositions.
WithBlackberry’s latest announcement almost throwing in the towel and the Windows platform not gaining any significant headwind, the market is going to consolidate very soon.
“The rest of the players will have to decide very quickly if it even make sense for them to stay in the industry. Blackberry’s sale will set off a series of mergers and acquisitions,” Chong said.
Check out the original Marketing Magazine article here where Chong also talked about how using Robert Downey Jr.’s face for the new campaign would only get attention but not get the cash registers ringing and how HTC could still come out of this situation winning.
