HTC Features Robert Downey Jr. in Bizarre New Ad Campaign

What's This?

By Pete Pachal2013-08-12 07:01:46 UTC

HTC has had a rough time lately, with lousy results in its latest quarterly earnings despite good reviews for its flagship smartphone, the HTC One. It makes sense, then, that the company would turn to a superhero for help: Robert Downey Jr., best known for playing Iron Man on the big screen, will plug HTC in an ad campaign beginning this week — just as had been rumored.

But which HTC? In the ad, Downey injects some energy — and ambiguity — into the brand by exploring other products and objects that share the abbreviation. A Hipster Troll Carwash (see photo below), Hot Tea Catapult and Humongous Tinfoil Catamaran all feature prominently, which concludes with the words "Here's To Change."

Leaving his Iron Man armor at home, Downey appears as a comically unflappable consultant wearing a pinstriped suit.

"He's known as a rebellious character," said Tom Harlin, HTC's director of public relations for the Americas. "He has a different approach to Hollywood just as we've had a different approach to consumer technology."

HTC screened the ad for Mashable, but said it's not online yet. The ad will launch worldwide in the next few days, and is set to roll out on TV and online, with accompanying banner ads, the company added.

HTC Troll Carwash

Quirky to the extreme, HTC's new ad campaign is more about building the brand and heightening its visibility to North American consumers, Harlin said, and less about the company's products themselves. Harlin hinted that the Downey Jr. ads would likely be followed by more product-specific ones in "phase 2" of HTC's marketing strategy. He declined to comment on whether the actor would be involved with those, as well.

Harlin said HTC predicts viewers will react strongly to the ads, either with love or an "opposite feeling," but the important thing is that they'll react — even if they miss the part about HTC being a smartphone manufacturer.

"I don't think [the ad] will confuse what we do," Harlin said. "I think it'll have consumers asking questions about who HTC is."