Ever-Empty Helio Store Says It All

If there’s a brand in the US that got it wrong, it has to be the Helio mobile phone brand. The brand has been off-message, off-style and just tried too hard to be seen as cool rather than try hard to be so good that the brand becomes cool.

The thing is, we understand that the phone service is pretty slick – it should be as it’s the only major 3G phone service in the country – but the brand has been off-message, off-style and just tried too hard to be seen as cool rather than try hard to be so good that the brand became cool. (We were reminded to write about Helio after seeing the Helio ad on the back of Good Magazine… how “trying” is that??)

Some branding and ad and media agency somewhere has advised an ill informed client the wrong strategy. The ultimate example of a brand gone wrong is the flagship store on Broadway in NYC (pictured). The store has been empty since its doors opened. The crappy AT&T store further up the road is full of kids mucking around with the gadgets but the store is empty. As far as we can make out from when we pass they only people who come in are the store-clerks’ friends to goof around to make the time pass until it all comes to an end. Which surely – despite renewed investment – must be soon. No?