HTC needs a course on branding

Building a brand that people recognize and want to invest their money in is a difficult thing to accomplish.  Many technology companies to a terrible job branding their products.  At the end of the day, it comes down to having a good logo, name, and advertising.

If someone wants to look at how to brand a tech product, they need to look at Apple.  I don't think anyone has been more successful at building a brand than them.  Their i devices are so recognizable that I am sure there isn't a person alive that doesn't know about an iPod or iPhone.  What they did was pick a product name and stuck to it.  They didn't change the branding constantly like many companies do and they didn't pick some dumb combination of number and letters that no one will remember.

HTC and many other companies have had so many different names for their devices.  It gets really confusing to the consumer what device is what.  Samsung has finally got the message.  They followed Apple's lead and created their Galaxy line that has been incredibly successful.  When it didn't sell gang busters at first, they didn't change it over and over to try and find a name that works.  They stuck with it and kept going.  

How many names has HTC had in their lifetime of products.  They have had the Hero, Evo, Desire, Aspire, and so many other phone names.  How do they expect people to keep them strait or even have any sense of brand recognition.  They did attempt to fix this by bringing out the One series.  I thought this was a great name for a phone.  They also broke it down by the X, S, and V.  It was easy to figure out which phone was which.  After they were doing good, they messed it up.  Instead of sticking with the names they had, they release the SV and XS.  If a consumer goes into a store, how are they supposed to make any sense of what phone is going to fit their needs or budget.  

What HTC needs to do is stop coming up with a new name for each phone.  They need to pick a brand and stick by it like Samsung has done with the Galaxy Series, Motorola has done with the Droid and Razr series.  These phones may not even be as good as the HTC product but what we all know is perception is more powerful than reality.  If you can advertise your brand in a way that makes your product look better than it is, you have won.  

I hope HTC finally learns their lesson on branding.  I really think this is a prime reason they are not doing as well as they could.  Take a lesson from your competition and build a brand that people can recognize  it will go a long way to reaching success.