The One M8 may be a great enough smartphone to compete with (and perhaps surpass) the Galaxy S5, but HTC itself has significantly less clout and influence than Samsung in appealing to consumers. In an effort to make a great impact in the public eye, the Taiwanese company has hired former Samsung head of mobile marketing Paul Golden.
HTC simply invests nowhere near as much on marketing and brand awareness as Samsung, making any fight for market share an uphill battle from the start--regardless of the product quality. The One M8 is arguably the best phone on the market right now, but that alone will not be enough for HTC as Samsung spends roughly $280 million more on marketing. HTC has struggled financially because of this, and simply needs the One M8 to be a hit.
The acquisition of Golden, first reported by Bloomberg, might be able to help HTC in this regard. He will serve as advisor to Chairwoman Cher Wang, bringing his marketing knowledge and experience from Samsung to the smaller Taiwanese company.
"HTC continues to invest in talent and recruitment as part of our broader human resources strategy to ensure the continued strength of our company's organizational structure," HTC said in an e-mailed statement.
The Galaxy line's well-known "Next Big Thing" ads and the commercials poking fun at Apple rolled out under Golden's tenure as chief marketing officer, which helped Samsung become the major brand in the smartphone market we know it as now.
Golden was not hired directly from HTC's South Korean competitor--he worked at Samsung from 2008 to 2012--but was most recently serving as a managing partner for Brand Slam, a marketing consultancy company. The role is not currently a long-term one, Bloomberg reports, but a three-month stint for the time being,
