HTC phone ad has little to add.

It's hard to work out the motivation of this ad.
HTC have gone to a lot of trouble to hire a major celebrity then given him a script that effectively says "ads for cell phones are a waste of time - find out what you want to know on the internet". Though what Mr Oldman actually says is "Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah'.  That's what 63.45%* of most ads say, so no news there. 

All that I can conceive of as a possible strategy is that HTC want to position the M8 phone (and their brand) as an understated, cool kids brand. People who choose HTC don't need the peer approval of placing the sleek new iPhone 5S on the meeting table. Heck, they probably don't even play Angry Birds, let alone give one iota of neural space to Flappy Birds. I'm guessing that's what they are trying to achieve. While everyone else is making ads with ukelele soundtracks with bearded guys in porkpie hats and sailor tattoos they'll need to explain to their grandkids, and sweet girls on single speed bikes and kids diving in slow motion off a wharf with a fake light leak effect…you know the kind of thing – nostalgia for the zeitgeist. This ad is more like a fragrance ad. never mind logic or salesman ship. Don't explain anything - just Google it dude.

So, breaking the fourth wall with an ironic reference to advertising and a kind of post-modern, bleak view of the world (from a hotel room in Gdańsk or somewhere equally challenged in the picturesque stakes) - this is an antidote ad. 

It's perfectly reasonable strategy - along the lines of - if everybody else zigs then you should zag. 


I guess my problem with the commercial is the product its self. To me a phone is a phone - a utilitarian device. My allegiance to Apple left the building a while back (I all but got a tattoo). But I still like appealing design and when I did as I was told - use the internet. I thought the M8 looked quite smart. The ad didn't do it justice. But I never made it further than a google image search - I wasn't motivated enough. The complete lack of urgency or vitality in the commercial made me think the brand is staid. or something.

Takeout.
Be careful with projecting your own super-cool hip (or anti-hip) view of the world on the people you want to consider your products. If you seem like you couldn't care less about them why should they give you the time of day?

P.S. In what universe is The Best Just Got Better a plausible headline?

*87.3% of all statistics are made up.

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This book is worth a look: Zag. The #1 Strategy of high performance brands (I know, the title is up there with The Best Just Got Better - I suspect the publisher's marketing department felt it needed some explanation).