HTC Launching US Brand Awareness Campaign

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.youtube.com/htc

"In apparent anticipation of their upcoming "game changing" May 6th announcement, HTC is getting ready to launch their first ever North American brand awareness campaign. The Taiwanese manufacturer is well known for its carrier-branded devices, but has recently begun dabbling with promoting their own brand. Hoping to raise brand awareness and further solidify its place at the top of the Windows Mobile (and upcoming Android) food chain, they've prepared a commercial campaign that should hit movie theatres, in-flight entertainment screens, television, print, and outdoor ad spots alike beginning this week. The first ad is already out, and besides us begging them to change the Apple-esque ending (no, really, we begged), the commercial is actually quite well done. Could HTC be planning to expand their direct-to-consumer retail business a la Nokia and Apple? We're not sure, but they certainly have our vote of confidence if they go down that road."

I could sure go for a phone manufacturer in the US marketing directly to consumers. An unlocked phone will easily work on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, and supposedly Verizon is opening their network to non-Verizon devices, so we may be starting down the path of picking devices and carriers separately, something the Europeans have been able to easily do since the beginning of their cellular service.

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.youtube.com/htc

"In apparent anticipation of their upcoming "game changing" May 6th announcement, HTC is getting ready to launch their first ever North American brand awareness campaign. The Taiwanese manufacturer is well known for its carrier-branded devices, but has recently begun dabbling with promoting their own brand. Hoping to raise brand awareness and further solidify its place at the top of the Windows Mobile (and upcoming Android) food chain, they've prepared a commercial campaign that should hit movie theatres, in-flight entertainment screens, television, print, and outdoor ad spots alike beginning this week. The first ad is already out, and besides us begging them to change the Apple-esque ending (no, really, we begged), the commercial is actually quite well done. Could HTC be planning to expand their direct-to-consumer retail business a la Nokia and Apple? We're not sure, but they certainly have our vote of confidence if they go down that road."

I could sure go for a phone manufacturer in the US marketing directly to consumers. An unlocked phone will easily work on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, and supposedly Verizon is opening their network to non-Verizon devices, so we may be starting down the path of picking devices and carriers separately, something the Europeans have been able to easily do since the beginning of their cellular service.

[griph]

Hmm - Video Clip comes up with 'No longer available'

[Darius Wey]

Originally Posted by griph

Hmm - Video Clip comes up with 'No longer available'

No issues on my end. Have you tried a force refresh?

As for the ad itself, I quite like it, although the last 10 seconds seemed eerily familiar to the iPhone ads.

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by Darius Wey

As for the ad itself, I quite like it, although the last 10 seconds seemed eerily familiar to the iPhone ads.

Agreed, although I would say the music is too mellow. It doesn't grab your attention in the short time an ad should. Good first step, though.

--janak

[Rocco Augusto]

I actually saw this commercial on TV the other day! It aired on the History channel during "The Universe" (one of my favorite shows). The episode was "Wildest Weather in the Cosmos" in case anyone wants to watch a rerun of it later to see if it airs again (though I doubt it ).

At first I thought it was a jewelry commercial because of the hands and fast forwarded it - not catching the end to see that it was actually an HTC commercial!

Hopefully they start selling unlocked devices in the US with their own branding!

[virain]

"Set your fingers free"
Hmmm... Doesn't really fly with me, if it shows fingers walking and doing all the work on a Touch's screen. That would work better if they advertise "Voice Commander" or something that actually does set your hands free.