Earlier this week, smartphone manufacturer HTC revealed that Robert Downey, Jr. will be the star of a new ad campaign for the company. The star of the Iron Man movies will be the company’s spokesperson for two years, with HTC reportedly spending billions on the marketing plan. A short teaser revealed that the first ad to star Downey will re-introduce HTC as a force for “change” (their buzzword) in the mobile industry.
Now, the first full-length HTC ad starring Downey has been released. It plays on the theme of HTC’s initials, showing that they could, hypothetically, stand for anything. What exactly that means isn’t quite clear, but here’s the ad, which ends with Downey holding a cat:
The ad is, obviously, a bid to bring HTC’s brand name back from obscurity. Though the manufacturer this year released a well-reviewed phone in the HTC One, it has continued to lose ground in the high-end smartphone market to Samsung. Dropping Windows Phone 8 would be a good start for an HTC comeback, though dropping millions on a celebrity spokesperson could be a gamble.