{"id":18985,"date":"2026-10-20T09:20:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=18985"},"modified":"2026-10-20T09:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:20:48","slug":"nothings-brand-chief-is-fed-up-of-boring-and-generic-smartphone-ads-he-shares-his-marketing-strategy-for-taking-on-samsung-and-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=18985","title":{"rendered":"Nothing\u2019s brand chief is fed up of \u2018boring and generic\u2019 smartphone ads\u2014he shares his marketing strategy for taking on Samsung and Apple\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

Nearly two decades after the first iPhone, most smartphones still follow Apple\u2019s template.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cConsumer tech\u2019s becoming pretty boring,\u201d says Charlie Smith, chief brand officer at Nothing, the London-based upstart which is aiming to break the mold. \u201cEveryone just copied the success of Apple, which was about minimalism, aluminum, and glass. [Tech] really lost a lot of its personality.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response, Smith is pursuing what he describes as a \u201cretro futuristic\u201d design approach. Many of Nothing\u2019s smartphones and headphones feature transparent casings that leave some of the internal components exposed. Founded in 2020 by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, the company was valued at $1.3 billion after a $200 million Series C round in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith sees Dyson as the last British consumer \u201csuper brand\u201d and wants Nothing to be the next. Adam Bates, Dyson\u2019s former head of design, now works as Nothing\u2019s design director.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>
A Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, left, and a Nothing Phone (4a) <\/figcaption>

Getty Images, 2026<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

However, Smith, who joined in January after seven years running marketing at LVMH-owned fashion house Loewe, faces an uphill challenge. Global smartphone shipments fell 20% in the third quarter of 2026, the weakest third quarter since 2012, according to Counterpoint Research, as rising memory-chip costs pushed up phone prices.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apple and Samsung<\/a> also continue to dominate the smartphone market. Samsung\u2019s market share rose from 19% to 23% and Apple\u2019s increased from 18% to 22%. In order to stand out in a crowded field, Smith is taking a different approach to brand building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most smartphone advertising, he says, relies on \u201cglossy renders\u201d and storytelling built around camera upgrades and other specs. \u201cThere\u2019s no real community building or emotional hook,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes brands really see marketing as a formula, almost like a mathematical equation, and that\u2019s what produces really boring, generic results.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rejecing the marketing formula \u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Brand building has gotten harder as marketing chiefs face growing pressure to prove their value. More than half (56%) of marketing chiefs say their CFO is pushing harder for evidence of marketing\u2019s financial impact, according to Duke University\u2019s 2026 CMO Survey of more than 300 marketing leaders. Of those, seven in 10 say they\u2019ve doubled down on short-term results and sharper performance tracking as a result.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Formulaic marketing rewards whatever delivers measurable results quickly, such as clicks and sales, over the slower work of building a brand. That pushes marketers toward ideas that have worked before, which is why, Smith says, so many ads look alike. Playing it safe can also cost more. \u201cIf you have an amazing idea, people are going to share it organically,\u201d he says, \u201cwhereas if you\u2019re just using paid media to boost something very predictable, you\u2019re having to spend a lot more money to do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith has seen the cost of that shift firsthand. From 2015 to 2018, he ran Nike\u2019s account for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa while working at the ad agency R\/GA. Back then, he says, \u201cNike<\/a> did not stick to a fixed schedule of campaigns. It reacted to cultural events as they happened and let local teams shape the message instead of running the same ads globally. Nike\u2019s 2018 \u2018Nothing Beats a Londoner\u2019 campaign\u2019, for example, was full of references only Londoners would get.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later, Smith says, Nike started \u201cfocusing more on performance marketing, data, and its direct-to-consumer business.\u201d This meant ads were judged more heavily on immediate sales and, as a result,\u00a0\u201ca lot of that magic and creativity was lost,\u201d he adds. \u00a0<\/p>\n

What really cuts through, Smith says, is \u201cextreme risk taking and boldness.\u201d He constantly challenges his team with one question: \u201cWhat\u2019s the opposite of what we would be expected to do here?\u201d When Apple scheduled its launch the day before Nothing\u2019s in March, Nothing graffitied over Apple\u2019s invitation and Pei posted it online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith concedes that such questions are easier to ask at a comparatively small company, where creative risk is already part of the culture. Having control of the entire brand, including the website and store design, also helps, as ideas are less likely to be watered down as they pass between departments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inviting customers into the boardroom\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Smith encourages staff outside of the marketing function to come forward with ideas. \u201cGood ideas come from everywhere, and it\u2019s about the leadership embracing them,\u201d he says. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Customer insights are also welcomed.\u00a0Every year, Noting\u2019s\u00a0fan community elects a community board observer, a volunteer who attends the company\u2019s quarterly board meetings and presents customers\u2019 views on products and launches to its directors. Nothing shortlists the candidates, and the community votes on its forum. They have previously helped design one of its phones. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Without the marketing budgets of Apple or Samsung, Nothing is spending on smaller, local projects aimed at its core customers. In July, it launched the Club Nothing Fund, which gives four independent creators or music collectives $10,000 each to stage a nightlife event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When planning these collaborations, Smith emphasizes the importance of authenticity. He says: \u201cAre you genuinely adding something to this culture, or are you just taking from it?\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Showing the humans behind the product\u00a0<\/h2>\n

As AI-generated content spreads, audiences have become harder to impress. A-third (30%) of Gen-Z described brands that used AI in the advertising as \u201cinauthentic, according to an IAB survey<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost our sense of wonder,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI skepticism has made it more important\u00a0to show the people behind the product, according to Smith. At Nothing\u2019s March launch at Central Saint Martins, the London art school, more than 300 students met the company\u2019s industrial design team and tried the products.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Loewe, Smith showed how its products were made, filming craftspeople at work and asking content creators to post rough, unpolished TikToks that went \u201cagainst the codes of luxury,\u201d where everything has to be \u201cperfect and glossy.\u201d \u201cSome of the best-performing content on digital channels is the most human and analog,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Formulaic marketing promises certainty. Smith is betting that in a market where every phone looks the same, the bigger risk is being boring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quick note: Companies are facing growing pressure to demonstrate returns on every investment while continuing to build for the future. To further explore how CMOs and CFOs are collaborating to drive growth, resigster to join Fortune\u2019s<\/em> Creativity Meets Capital Breakfast on Thursday 26 November, 9am\u201312pm, at LinkedIn\u2019s London office in Farringdon. Register here. <\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly two decades after the first iPhone, most smartphones still follow Apple\u2019s template.\u00a0 \u201cConsumer tech\u2019s becoming pretty boring,\u201d says Charlie Smith, chief brand officer at Nothing, the London-based upstart which is aiming to break the mold. \u201cEveryone just copied the success of Apple, which was about minimalism, aluminum, and glass. [Tech] really lost a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1043,"featured_media":18986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nNothing\u2019s brand chief is fed up of \u2018boring and generic\u2019 smartphone ads\u2014he shares his marketing strategy for taking on Samsung and Apple\u00a0 | Unlock Informed Choices with Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The brand chief at Nothing explains how he plans to take 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Birchall","author_link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?author=1043"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Nearly two decades after the first iPhone, most smartphones still follow Apple\u2019s template.\u00a0 \u201cConsumer tech\u2019s becoming pretty boring,\u201d says Charlie Smith, chief brand officer at Nothing, the London-based upstart which is aiming to break the mold. \u201cEveryone just copied the success of Apple, which was about minimalism, aluminum, and glass. 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