www.hornallanderson.com/casestudy/making-technology-more-human

Helping HTC build their brand from the inside out

We've been working with smartphone maker HTC to help them step out from the shadows and transform themselves from an anonymous OEM into a household name with a bold challenger brand. Our goal: build awareness and affinity for HTC —both among consumers and, just as importantly, among the people who recommend phones to those consumers—the retail sales channel.

Training that doesn't feel like training

Retail salespeople are still people. So for each launch we create online training that's designed for people. It's interesting, entertaining and puts the features and benefits in human terms. There's enough noise in the category about Gigahertz, Megapixels and 4G. We focus the conversation on what really matters—what you do with your phone.

Hornall Anderson just "gets it." They know how to present new technology in familiar human terms, which makes our brand more meaningful for people, and of course helps differentiate us from our competitors. — Marcia Markovich, Director, Retail Marketing

3-screen keynote speech introducing HTC's holiday lineup at T-Mobile.
HTC's David Bruce takes to the stage for a rousing game of "You Wish."
HTC's David Bruce takes to the stage for a rousing game of "You Wish."
"You Wish," a team-based game show. The prize: new HTC phones.
Not everyone is a winner at "You Wish."
Excitement builds as the competition heats up.
To the victors go the spoils.
"Let's Get Smarterer" game show at the launch of the T-Mobile's G-1 with Google.
Intense competition as each team tries to show they are "smarterer."
A "funnerer" moment at the G1 launch event.
The HTC Status launches with a game of "What's my Status?"

Events that inspire as well as inform

We've helped solidify HTC's reputation as a company that does things a little differently. Their launch events aren't boring corporate affairs, but full-blown interactive multimedia experiences that leave the attendees charged up and wanting more.

The Results

HTC engaged us with the goal of increasing their rate of recommendation at retail—essentially, when people ask for advice on which phone they should buy, the goal is to increase the likelihood that the answer is "HTC." Have we moved the needle? In a word, yes.

  • 35 months
  • 40 phone launches
  • 125+ videos
  • 8,439 people trained on htc phones

Related Projects