HTC has confirmed the appointment of Idris Mootee, chief executive of Canada-based design firm Idea Couture, as its new CMO.

He takes over from Ben Ho, who left in December after less than two years in the post, following another decline in the Taiwanese smartphone-maker’s global market share.

Mootee spent seven years leading Idea Couture. Prior to this he held senior roles at WPP global customer experience innovation firm Blast Radius and US consultancy business Strategy Architects.

HTC, once the biggest global smartphone brand by volume, has a market share of less than 2%, and trails behind the trio of Chinese brands Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo, despite the success of its HTC One M8 handset.

It attempted to raise awareness of the brand in Western markets with a high-profile campaign starring Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr, which launched in 2013 but failed to translate into increased sales.

“[Mootee] has extensive experience in marketing, strategy and design, which will be of great value to HTC’s business strategy as an innovation leader going forward,” said HTC in a statement to Ad Age.

HTC is not the only Asian smartphone brand to change its marketing leadership: earlier this month, Samsung appointed a third global CMO for its mobile business in just a matter of weeks, following the unexpected departure of Kim Seok-pil.