The Quietly Brilliant Campaign
In late 2009, HTC debuted its first global advertising cam-
paign: “quietly brilliant.” In the campaign, HTC was por-
trayed as a company that did “great things in a humble way
with the belief that the best thing in life are experienced,
not explained.” This brand positioning not only fit its cor-
porate culture very well but also reflected the shared per-
sonality of its employees (See Exhibit 7).
Compared to the other tag lines under consideration by
HTC, “quietly brilliant” was not a brand position that was
easy to explain or understand, yet the management team
at HTC believed that the company embodied the attitude
expressed in the slogan and could own the “quietly bril-
liant” position exclusively. Results of an internal survey
revealed that the tag line was ownable, inspirational and
honest. Since the fundamental attitude of humility behind
this position fit HTC well, the marketing team did not need
to make significant extra efforts to communicate this brand