The global platform was developed by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, and seeks to tap into the brand's emotional attributes, highlighting the unique personal relationships people have with their computers. Unifying the executions is a coloured silhouette of a hand, meant to reinforce the brand's individuality and flexibility.
"The computer is really an extension of the individual," said Dennis Mark, VP marketing, HP PSG, Asia-Pacific and Japan. "It's almost like your backup brain, where all your personal information is stored — your playlist, your phonebook, all your personal details."
"We wanted to create excitement in the marketplace to emphasise that personal computing is something you can enjoy as an individual, whether you're a consumer, or an SMB company," Mark added.
In Asia, the platforms will be deeply localised in four markets — China, Korea, India and Australia — and subsequently adapted for the rest of the region. According to Mark, the media approach will be an integrated "assault" of media: aside from traditional methods such as print and TVC, an aggressive viral and mobile content approach will be used. "A lot of viral aspects have been planned for. A lot of mobile content, especially in Korea, where it's very popular at the moment," he said.
The most anticipated tie-up is with MTV, in which the two companies have created a reality-TV show entitled Meet or Delete. The show follows college students who assess potential partners' suitability, based upon the contents of their hard drive, including playlists, pictures and websites visited. The format will also be localised according to the four Asian markets.
"We've had a lot of partners coming to us with ideas, but MTV was a prime example where we felt there was a very strong fit with their target audience," Mark said.
"For the last two to three years, we've been putting together the infrastructure for this campaign. We've beefed up our call centre and online portal and improved our web chat system. With the whole infrastructure in place, plus increased investments in product design and technology, we thought (the campaign) was timely."
Regional adaptations will be done by Publicis, with media planning through ZenithOptimedia.
Additional reporting by James Murphy
