Being quietly brilliant isn't all that helpful if it doesn't help you sell phones.
HTC, it seems, has come to realize that. With sales plummeting, the company is retiring its ineffective "Quietly Brilliant'" tagline in favor of a bolder, more aggressive approach, marketing chief Benjamin Ho told the Wall Street Journal.
"We have a lot of innovations but we haven’t been loud enough,” Ho said.
The move has been a long, long time coming. For what seems like forever, HTC has had one main problem: It makes great phones but completely fails at marketing them effectively. This reality wasn't lost on CEO Peter Chou, who hinted at the new changes in tone months ago. “Our competitors were too strong and very resourceful, pouring in lots of money into marketing. We haven’t done enough on the marketing front,” Chou said in January.
So far, the answer to that question is pretty clear: Be bold, aggressive, and note, over and over, that the emperor is wearing no clothes. Frankly, it's the only thing HTC can do at this point.
Rest in peace, 'Quietly Brilliant,' and may you never be heard from again.
Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat