Edelman was tasked with delivering HP’s first ever Global Influencer summit, congregating its tier one influencers from across the world to align behind its future vision as PPS, one printing and PC business.
HP had new products to launch and wanted to ensure maximum exposure across traditional and also social media but to send out a clear message HP was one united business and back on course.
Planning & Execution
Challenges
HP had experienced months of internal turmoil and change. Within a short period of time it had faced the controversial cancelation of a major product, a potential internal spin-off, the arrival of a new CEO and a major group-wide restructuring. In the face of these uncertainties HP turned to Edelman to deliver a seamless media and influencer experience that would mark a turning point in the company’s fortunes and demonstrate HP was still very much a PC and printer business.
This was the first time HP and Edelman had worked together on an event of this scale, involving as many as 65 countries around the world, therefore best practices on integration at this level did not exist, but the teams worked extremely hard to share information across markets and find solutions to roadblocks along the way.
During the actual event the wi-fi connection was lost at the venue on day 1, which impaired media and influencers from sharing and tweeting live. The team worked around the situation to purchase extra licenses which resulted in a stronger better connection on
day 2.
Target Audiences
The company needed to align all stakeholders behind its future vision as PPS. Several audiences who needed to be part of this transformation included:
• Partners who needed to be recognized for their continued support and given the confidence that HP would continue to make it easier for them to do business
• Customers who needed to be excited by PPS products and convinced that HP was committed to delivering customer inspired innovation
• Media who needed to be convinced that HP had a strong story to tell from the business and product standpoint
Communications Strategy
• In order to maximize the impact of the Summit on both influencers and media, the agency recommended:
• Early contact with influential media, which meant that conversations took place with over 200 journalists before they had even boarded the planes for what would be, for some, their first HP event.
• The active involvement of customers to demonstrate their confidence in the PPS business and the company’s commitment to customer inspired innovation. Customers were therefore involved at every touch-point, from launching products on stage to delivering keynotes and participating in breakout sessions.
• A heavy focus on social media as a way of disseminating content to influencers, both those attending the event and others following the event around the world.
Communications Messages
• The core messages focused on reassuring customers and partners about HP’s continued leadership as well as the strength of the combined PPS business.
• To align all customers, partners and media behind a strategic vision for the combined PPS business
• Demonstrate HP’s continued leadership in Asia and reaffirm its commitment to China, now the largest PC market in the world
• Demonstrate HP’s commitment to delivering the right products to meet customer needs and the ability of the PPS business to provide customers with a complete, innovative portfolio of solutions.
• Manage and positively influence stakeholder perceptions during a period of transformation within the business
Effectiveness / Results
In Asia alone, the HP Global Influencer Summit generated over 2,500 articles, with a combined reach of 60 million (OTS) across the region. In addition, 74,000 social media conversations took place during the two-day event, generating over 650,000 interactions and more than 4.3 million post views.
Tracking took place across all markets involved, monitoring for traditional media coverage and digital platforms such as blogs, facebook twitter and Sina.
Todd Bradley, Executive Vice President of HP PPS, personally wrote to Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman confirming that he thought the summit went very well. And according to Kristine Boyden, GCRM for HP: “To pull off an event with nearly 600 media and influencers and 65 countries in Shanghai under the best circumstances would be a major feat. The team pulled it off and earned tremendous results celebrating the 80+ products we announced with the backdrop of a merger of now almost $70 billion business that had heretofore operated as separate planets, politics that rival the UN, clients worried about (and in some cases) losing their roles midstream, a new boss, lack of content beyond the products launching and more.”
The team’s efforts truly galvanized the new HP PPS business for the attending media, helping the company through what was a tumultuous period internally and paving the way for HP to continue meaningful interactions with media, customers and partners as a transformed business.