Iron Man's Bollywood dance to help save HTC

Taiwanese smartphones maker HTC has unveiled acclaimed actor and director Robert Downey Jr as the star of its ‘Here’s to Change’ brand-building advertising campaign.

For the uninitiated, Downey Jr. plays the lead role in the hit 'Iron Man' movie series and has, admittedly on-screen, saved the world from numerous baddies and even total annihilation.

So, can he save HTC from total market share extinction?

Real-life, sadly, doesn’t always mimic reel-life, and it might take more than Iron Man’s repulsar rays and electro punches to revive the in-coma HTC brand.

Make no mistake, HTC has a winner on its hands (our hands, actually) in the shape of the HTC One, a smartphone that most analysts agree is the best among the current crop of new launches, and that includes the Apple iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Sony Xperia Z.

What’s lacking in the HTC equation, sadly, is the marketing prowess of these well-entrenched competitors, some of whom have taken the game far, far away from HTC with their money-marketing muscles.

“The ad creative marries Robert Downey Jr’s wit and charisma with HTC’s playful nature to instil the HTC brand name into consumers’ minds,” the company said in a media statement. “Celebrating HTC’s disruptive impact on the mobile industry over its 17-year history, Here’s To Change equates change with the innovation that’s essential to move the industry forward.”

Watch the ad here, in which around the 1:20 mark, Downey Jr is seen shaking a leg to a popular Bollywood song:

HTC is reportedly spending a whopping $1 billion in its latest ad campaign but if it wants to entrench the brand name firmly in the audience’s minds, the narrative of this particular ad seems to be on the wrong network.

The ads seem to be making a mockery of the HTC brand and confusing the audience about what the acronym HTC or indeed the brand itself stands for.

Here’s what HTC says: “The quirky and offbeat creative sees Robert Downey Jr as an advertising executive who animates HTC’s brand with playful iterations of the HTC acronym. His imaginative direction includes a life size incarnation of a Humungous Tinfoil Catamaran which he sets to sail, and a Hipster Troll Carwash complete with lovable green-haired trolls who are busy washing cars to music under his direction.”

Pardon my ignorance, but for a company that is trying to make a name for itself in the global smartphone domain, Humungous Tinfoil Catamaran and Hipster Troll Carwash cannot lead to any association whatsoever with great smartphones.

“The creative ad also features many other interpretations of HTC that consumer fans are invited to spot, guess and share including Hot Tempered Cheerleaders, Hawaiian Tickling Ceremony, Happy Taco Cart, and Hands That Clap,” the company adds.

Tell me if I’m mistaken, but where in the world do Hot Tempered Cheerleaders equal great handsets?

Ben Ho, CMO of HTC, said in the statement: “As a leading change-maker in the movie industry, Robert Downey Jr. was the natural fit to star in our new ‘Here’s to Change’ advertising campaign and we are incredibly excited to have him on board as a result. Just as he champions change in his approach to movie roles and characters, here at HTC our innovation, authenticity and boldness have made us the change-makers in the mobile industry.”

This is, arguably, HTC’s first attempt at getting back in that game and, at least in theory, the ads should get better as we go. But if it doesn’t improve (soon), HTC could end up as a B-school case study titled ‘How That Crashed’.

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