• by Larissa Faw , April 6, 2015

Whether someone lives in Paris, Prague or Providence, Rhode Island, for many people, smartphones are now essential for all aspects of daily living, from taking photos, shopping, playing music and games, setting schedules and even talking to others.

Now, HTC and its agency SapientNitro want to illustrate how people worldwide are able to live their lives more fully by using HTC's One M9 smartphone via the new One Life campaign. 

“HTC totally gets that these days people use their phones to show off, have fun and look cool. We tried to represent that," says Mark Hunter, Executive Creative Director at SapientNitro. 

The global campaign first launches in the UK on BT Sport 1 and will then be rolled out globally across Europe, Middle East, USA and APAC.

As part of the creative, two 30-second spots show people using their phones in a series of different situations, including in art galleries, on the way to work, at parties and on the way to a football match.

These TV commercials were shot in London by the French directing duo, Truman & Cooper and feature a dance track specially composed by record industry producers, Joel Edwards and Glen Nichols, at One More Music.

These ads will appear on terrestrial and satellite TV, online and in theaters, and will be supported by print and digital initiatives.

The ads can be viewed here.

The overall objective for this campaign is designed to position the phone as an "enabler of a brilliant life," with the creative aiming to better connect the brand with a digitally empowered target audience in different ways, at different times and in different places to drive deeper engagement, say agency executives.

At the same time, it is important for HTC to be seen, not just as a smartphone brand, but as a "very cool lifestyle brand," per the company.

To that end, HTC recently embarked a diversification strategy that includes a collaboration with Under Armour to bring a line of connected health and fitness-related devices.

Still, making a global campaign that resonates with an international audience is challenging, say agency executives. "We got around this challenge by focusing on the universal truth that in any culture or language, there is a common belief that you want to make the best of your life. The expression ‘One Life’ articulates this belief in a nutshell -- life is for living."

Nonetheless, the campaign will be translated and slightly tailored for different markets and cultures.

The Taiwan-based manufacturer spent $67.27 million on advertising in the U.S. last year, down from $75.83 million in 2013, but up from $43.3 million in 2012, according to Kantar Media. Globally, the brand spent approximately $625 million on advertising in 2013 and $502 million in 2012, according to an HTC financial report. 

The One Life campaign is SapientNitro’s first work for HTC since it won the brand’s EMEA account in November 2014.