HTC Hero

The challenge

HTC approached us in early 2009 to help them launch their Europe-wide media campaign for their newest Android device.  The HTC Hero was going to be the first Android device that was not locked to a specific operator.  It was also the first device that was based around HTC sense - a user centric instinctive technology based around 3 principles: 'Make it Mine', 'Stay Close' and 'Discover the Unexpected'.

Our challenge was to create a campaign that was visually impactful, informative and user-centric.  The campaign was going to consist of rich media banners, dynamic microsites and Twitter activity.

What we did

Our approach was to focus the campaign around the unrivalled customisation that the HTC Hero phone allows customers.  This new device allows you the ability to create up to seven different homescreens so that you can have one for music, one for social networking, etc...   In addition, we wanted to highlight the key device features such as the headphone socket, 5MP camera and expandable storage.

We created a suite of standard and rich media banners as well as site takeovers that introduced you to the customisable aspects of the Hero device.  We wanted to highlight not only the design of the device itself, but through changing phone screens, how you could customise your phone to be totally unique to you. We brought the campaign to life with the tagline 'Be brave, be yourself' was introduced.

Dynamic microsites using the new HTC branding, high quality imagery and 3D animations were created for 11 countries.   Each territory had its own specific needs and wants.  For two, we created competitions that further engaged with the customer while also creating a customer/visitor email database that could be used further down the line to reconnect with visitors.

Finally, we ran a Twitter campaign to generate pre-launch interest in the device.  With the message "Your_hero is following you", the account followed a large number of popular tweeters who talk about smartphones, gadgets with the aim of creating a viral effect whereby they pick up the messages and generate interest in their followers.  A planned series of Tweets were posted pre-launch with the aim of delivering early sneak peeks to as many European customers as possible, as well as creating a dialogue amongst HTC owners and fans to build anticipation and excitement for the Hero device launch.

The results

• There was a huge demand from territories to create banners, microsites, competitions, etc. to support their offline campaigns. The campaign has been so successful that months later, we were still creating new banners for several territories.
• 167,825 visitors to the French microsite alone with 83.10% of those visits being new visitors.
• The HTC Hero Twitter account generated 1,455 followers in the duration of the campaign.