Agency Spy picks up where PSFK left off and spends a lot of time dissecting Helio’s branding and advertising:
Helio is one of the few phone makers to offer 3G service and GPS positioning, which is arguably very cool. However, the advertising for Helio never bothers to explain to the general public what 3G service is. Instead, they put up billboards featuring taglines such as, “Don’t call it a phone.” The brand also tries to get users to call it a “device” in its stores and print messages. Huh? Okay, so what the hell is a “device?” What is Helio – a cell phone maker, a service provider, a content service? And why should you make any sort of switch?
The work coming from their agency, Deutsch LA, addresses none of these issues. Instead, they employ the “irreverent, hipster” approach in such fare as their recent booklet on cell phone etiquette that does little to clear up consumer confusion… Deutsch might have focused on a different niche than the hipster marketplace. Hipsters everywhere have smart phones, but they’re all about the cheap. If Deutsch had done a little market research, they’d have known this.
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This article does make a good point on the marketing shortfalls, but it also does not highlight some of the great media attention that Helio has received because of the phase “don’t call it a phone”. Even if it might be a bad phase at least it’s easy to remember, simple and it gets people talking and in this business all you have to do is get people to start talking. As soon as they put their hands on this “device” they will love it. It’s just getting them in the store that is sometimes the hard part.
Jerry Folk
http://www.heliobuy.com
November 4th, 2007 at 10:19 am