Regrettably, companies have to do more unusual things these days - in order to get media attention. They will get more for their money by the unpaid attention in media/web etc. than it will cost them to pay off HAH.
Regrettably, it's very hard to prove that advertising works or does not, so the person who thought this up will get told they did a good job. it's in everyone's interest to say that it was a good idea.
My guess is that the new phone would have lots of fans buying it, just as old fans will buy the new apple phone when it comes out. But advertising people have to justify their existance. As long as they all pay their taxes (corporate and personal) I can ignore every bit of advertsing. And I do.