HTC hires Robert Downey Jr. to spearhead new Here’s to Change marketing campaign

HTC has announced a new brand marketing campaign, introducing the “Here’s To Change,” tagline along with a new TV ad featuring Iron Man himself, actor Robert Downey Jr.. Downey isn’t just the star of the ads as according to the press release, he’ll be working with HTC’s marketing agency 171 Worldwide to help, “Shape the [campaign’s] creative direction.”

The first phase is based around ads which play with the HTC acronym. No longer will it be associated with High Tech Computer Corporation, as many, “playful” interpretations will be introduced. In the brief teaser ad which you can see below, some, “subversive thinking,” gives us Humungous Tinfoil Catamaran instead, so you can see where it’s going with this idea.

After all the fun and games, we’ll see ads related to HTC’s unique features, such as BlinkFeed and HTC Zoe, before moving on to those which show HTC hardware, “Empowering individuals to drive change in their own lives.” The first full advert will make its debut on YouTube later this week.

HTC, which has been struggling to keep up with Samsung in the smartphone market, hired a new Chief Marketing Officer earlier this year, kicked out its old marketing agency, and confirmed it would be dropping the aging Quietly Brilliant tagline. New CMO Benjamin Ho said the new PR push, known as Marketing 2.0, would be more bold, as the firm hadn’t made enough noise about its products in the past.

Big name stars acting as spokespeople isn’t anything new in the tech world, with BlackBerry working closely with Alicia Keys, Intel with Will.i.am, and Microsoft with just about anyone who’ll sign on the dotted line. Downey Jr. has signed a two-year deal with HTC.

Currently, the Here’s to Change program has to focus on the HTC One, but the flagship phone will soon be joined by the HTC One Mini, plus a larger version, dubbed the HTC One Max, is rumored to be on its way before the end of the year.

Andy's fascination with mobile tech began in the 90s, at a time when SMS messages were considered cutting edge, but it would be a decade before he would put finger-to-keyboard as a technology writer. In the interim he wrote about travel, formulated strong opinions about films and owned a series of audacious cars.

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