For a long time now, there’s been a whole in HTC’s armor preventing them from climbing back up to the top, despite excellent devices like the HTC One (M8) we recently reviewed. That whole has been their marketing strategy. While better than some smartphone manufacturers, it can’t hold a candle to South Korean giant, Samsung. The company responsible for the Galaxy S line of devices has been successfully dominating the airwaves, as well as the Internet with compelling and persuasive ads that even have Apple worried about how successful their message has become. For HTC, this marketing machine of Samsung’s has relegated HTC to an almost small time smartphone manufacturer. HTC needs to change their marketing strategy going forward, and it looks like they might be moving in the right direction.
According to Bloombery, HTC has hired Paul Golden, a former head of marketing for Samsung’s US mobile industry. It’s said that Golden was the brain behind the “Next Big Thing” campaigns that catapulted the Galaxy S III to becoming one of Samsung’s most successful devices in recent history. Apparently, Golden has been hired as a contractor, and only been hired on a three-month contract for now. While this isn’t the magical hire many say HTC need, it’s a step in the right direction, and we’re sure that HTC isn’t going to stop there.
Golden’s long-term future at the company has yet to be confirmed, but hopefully the two can come together to really bring about change for marketing at HTC, after all it’s in dire need of being turned around. The high-profile hiring of Robert Downey Jr hasn’t had the effect that many hoped it would, but someone with the level of experience as Golden’s could create a compelling and coherent strategy to get HTC’s message across to consumers at long last.