SEATTLE: HTC has launched its first global brand campaign to build awareness as the mobile phone market becomes increasingly competitive.
The mobile phone maker unveiled “Quietly Brilliant” on October 26; a national ad campaign will go live later this week. Until recently, HTC was the only handset maker that designed phones for Google's Android platform, but rivals Motorola and Samsung have now entered the space, intensifying the competition.
“We are known within a core group of tech enthusiasts, but we wanted to go beyond and reach a broader audience,” Keith Nowak, senior PR manager at HTC, said. “We want consumers to know about HTC's leadership with the Android phone.”
In the weeks leading up to the launch, HTC generated buzz by putting up stark billboards in key markets that simply read “You.” The campaign's emphasis on “You” is explained in its tagline, “You don't need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you.”
"We are really emphasizing customization," Nowak added.
In the week before the launch, HTC did a media tour with its PR agency Waggener Edstrom that targeted The New York Times, Fortune, Ad Age, and other media outlets. The team is also using its existing social media channels, like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, to promote the branding effort. He said there will be limited PR surrounding the effort, but HTC will realign its key messages and future product launches around the new slogan.
“Before 2007, we were making phones for other people and were the brand behind the brand,” Nowak said. “But even when we became our own brand, we didn't really publicize ourselves.”
He added that the company plans to sustain its PR efforts through other product launches and ongoing roll outs like its T-Mobile's MyTouch phone.
Advertising firm Deutsch LA worked on the creative elements of the campaign.
