The HTC One M8 will Put the Pow

When is Batman's Commissioner Gordon an upgrade over Iron Man? In HTC's latest series of ads, starring an intense Gary Oldman.

The HTC One M8 will enjoy a bold marketing campaign.If nothing else, it's a memorable 20 seconds.

That's the length of time actor Gary Oldman silently stares at you, his eyes focused and unblinking. The scene fades, and the commercial ends with Oldman introducing the HTC One M8.

It's not the usual TV spot. Oldman doesn't tout its features or the design of the phone, which was introduced last week. Instead, he dares you to do your own homework.

"Go ahead, ask the Internet. I'll wait," he says, right before the laser-like stare-down begins.
It's a campaign that walks the fine line between confident and arrogant -- what if people had asked the Internet, and the response wasn't positive?

That's the risk Taiwan-based HTC, which has tumbled out of the top ranks of global smartphone makers (Gartner lumps it into the "other" category), decided to take when it came up with the concept for the commercial six to eight months ago.

While market leaders Samsung Electronics and Apple have billions of dollars to throw at advertising, HTC, which can only spend a fraction of its rivals, knew it needed to stand out in the seemingly endless stream of smartphone ads and win over customers from its rivals.


It also needed to prove that it could do something it hasn't been able to do so far: drum up attention for its best products.
"It was a risk, but we had to do something different," Erin McGee, HTC's vice president of marketing for the US, said in an interview . "We knew we needed something to elevate us above the white noise."

How effective the ads will be remains unclear, though the early feedback from reviewers has been positive. But Samsung is readying a marketing blitz to tout the next version of its own smartphone, the Galaxy S5. It's expected to hit the market in the coming weeks, and the company has a good track record of producing slick, appealing ads.

Indeed, with Samsung's marketing might over the past several years -- the company reportedly spent $14 billion on marketing and advertising last year -- few smartphone and tablet makers not named Apple have been able to stand out.

Things will be different this year, McGee promises.

In the US, HTC plans to spend an "exponential" amount more on advertising than last year, she said. The ads will target large cities, complementing a "heavy" digital campaign. More importantly, this isn't just a short burst to promote the One M8.

The company is planning a campaign to run throughout the year to reinvigorate the HTC brand.

Industry observers say they are impressed with HTC's early efforts.

"They'll stir up a good bit of buzz with this marketing," said Gene Grabowski, senior strategist at marketing and communications firm Levick.