Spotted in the Montgomery BART station last week, I finally snapped a photo of this ad on the way into the office today. It’s part of a large HP campaign that has ads plastered all over the walls and floors of the Muni/BART stations, promoting their computing products. This one obviously stood out from the others. Somewhat presumptuous, wouldn’t you say? It shares that same haughty feeling that Wired was known for throughout the mid ’90s. In fact, I think all the other current HP ads are declarative like this one: “You travel light…”, “You do this…”, “You do that…”
Update: I’ve added shots of a few more HP ads in the same BART station, to provide some context for this one.
Posted in Ephemera, Technology
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Hmm…
I doubt that many people will understand this ad. What do you think?
It’s interesting how well-distilled advertising campaigns and slogans have become during the last few years during the rise of information overload. We’re left with statements so short they’re barely statements, such as VW’s “Driven.”
But the interrogative format is a whole new ball game. “You aren’t an idiot, are you?” “You buy HP, don’t you?” Are they challenging me… tempting me to buy their products? I’m scared.
it’s kind of like a peer pressure approach, saying that if you don’t do this, you can’t be “hip” and “with the times”.
remember, don’t give in to peer pressure! ;)
The screenshot in the background looks familiar. Does anyone know if it’s a real weblog?
They know their audience. Someone who blogs is probably computer literate and spends a great deal of money on their systems and peripherals and are more likely to upgrade more often. It isn’t meant for everyone, only a targeted audience, so if a large population don’t understand it it isn’t important, as those who don’t know what a blog is are less likely to upgrade their systems or peripherals.
If a skateboard company wanted to sell skateboards and put an add that says “You go big don’t you?” the term “go big” is skateboarder lingo for performing a trick high off the ground or jumping over a large obstacle. Most people wouldn’t know what this means, but the skateboarders would and so it would probably attract a skateboarders attention and who cares about everyone else as they are less likely to buy a skateboard.
Pretty good idea really. I wish I could get my hands on their market research.
It’s apparently all part of a new $300 million “You+hp” marketing campaign, aimed at selling its latest digital imaging and computer products. Business Week has a story on it that ran a couple of months ago: Can HP Make Consumers’ Hearts Race?.
A heavy, Flash-based site urges you to tell your own story. The “Motel Chronicles” featured in the You Blog ad above (even though it’s also a book title) almost seems like it could be part of this consumer tie-in site.
If you’re really curious, here’s a larger photo (164 KB) of the ad.
I blog, and I certainly don’t do it on an HP. Mostly, I blog on an iBook.
So much for their market research…
I don’t like the way the capitals are spaced out. :)
If they put that up in Santa Fe, I think that Garret and I would be the only ones that would get it - and I’m a “newbie” at blogging, though I’ve been reading them all along.
Slight exaggeration, but not by much. More chefs than bloggers in this town.
Even for the people who don’t blog, I bet more than one will go home and look up what “blog” means on Google. I think it is brilliant.
It’s clever because as well as the above-the-line campaign, a fair number of bloggers will notice and comment on the campaign, and thus generate some hefty, intelligent below-the-line coverage not unlike viral marketing. So even someone who like me who lives in London, UK and has no exposure to the ads gets the message about the hip HP brand through free coverage on blogs like this one!
Further to Steph’s comment…
I’m also in London, so I’m just guessing, but each ad *could* be set to target an individual sub-segment/slice/whatever of their target market.
you just got hit hard by one you respond to particularly well.
course HP could just be late onto the bandwagon…
It reminds be of a campaign they had in the UK for the Independent newspaper when it first got published which said ‘It is, are you?’ It’s very clever cos if you get it you feel very smug and buy it, and if you don’t after someone explains it to you, you realise it must be quite cool and buy it anyway.
You jump off bridges, don’t you?
The Motel Chronicles blog uses all caps (YOU USE ALL CAPS, DON’T YOU?).
I don’t blog on an HP, I blog on a Compaq. :-)
I think a better slogan would be, “You surf porn, don’t you?”
Isn’t it funny that people are kind of bashing a blog ad on a blog ;) Or is it ironic…or irrelevant…
Looks like the ad worked exactly as planned. I mean, it’s listed here and all, generating comments which will most likely generate comments on other blogs and so on. If the HP advertisers have any experience with blogging, they have to know about its cycles — its power. On any given day I can browse to extremely popular blogs and more often than not there will be two or three common stories/links/products found on every single one. And this isn’t some text ad when it gets picked up on a blog, it’s content, it’s engaged discussion about whatever the story/link/product is.
Now, do I think that the HP ad people stuck a billboard out there knowing that at some point a picture of it would be snapped and placed on a blog — that the physical analogue would so easily transcend into the digital? I certainly think it’s possible… I mean, bloggers are an appealing market. Not only are they probably more likely to be early adapters, but they also spread word of mouth on a grand scale. However, marketing to the blogger presents a specific set of challenges; the most difficult to overcome would be the inherent cynical/critical nature of blogging.
There have been marketing campaigns that attempted to break into the blogging world, where the product was the focus of the blog, but those failed because they were so obviously, pitifully contrived. Unlike a fan-driven product blog, these blogs were too product oriented, too transparent and too unproven; some new milk product cannot support consistent quality conversation. Mostly they were panned by bloggers and a few bloggers even called for an all-out boycott. But that’s the thing, the dissatisfaction was spread instantly in several hundred blogs where people were investigating the product, culling links and notes — it was all negative, but it was also beautifully interactive.
Sure, their experiment had failed, but the real lesson was watching the dissemination of information across the web in blog after blog. The value is there, in getting linked to and talked about on blogs, but the active approach, when seen by the cynical/critical blogger, instantly loses any web-cred. The passive approach, however, if the campaign is clever enough will get picked up bloggers, it will get talked about and that could be exactly what HP is attempting with this ad.
These ads are just inclinations that the big guys are starting to take it seriously. Then again, is that a good thing?
I like the skateboarding parallel. One problem: skateboarders don’t really say “go big,” that’s only in the xgames.
Ahhhh, it’s lame.
HPs and Compaqs, all those BS propritary systems are geared towards teh AOL crowd, most of which, in my expierience, have no idea what a blog is still.
I was just at a little get together here in Boston sporting my “I’m Blogging This” t-shirt and had 5 or 6 (I was drinking a lot of booze that night) people ask me what “blogging” was, or exclaim “hey, I just found out what a blog was this afternoon….”
Screw HP ;)
I blog on the crappy Compaq laptops that our college hands out. I’d be thankful for the free computer, except that I paid for it in my tuition. I had to fix it (thank God the college covers that) five times in a year and a half.
I wish they’d switch to Dell.
By the way, shortening slogans to tiny statements/phrases is part of branding.
I blog, I own an HP, and I’m def. technically literate. The HP I bought was in my price range, was rated better than a Dell that costed $200 more, and had the same features. Their supports actually been suprisingly good, try getting Dell to replace a hard drive, no questions asked after five minutes on hold.
Suprisingly, most of my friends who own HP laptops have had similar experiences. HP/Compaq desktops are normally a nightmare. We won’t go there.
As to the campaign, its obviously effective. We’re here talking about it. It actually targets its audience pretty well. See, its not really aimed at US, its aimed at the kids and parents who are starting to blog. Who don’t build their own PCs (plenty of them) who can’t afford a mac (plenty of them) or even the teenager who uses a livejournal. Yes, thats a blog. Most of them might even recognize the term.
It reminds me of one of Mazda’s newer ad campaigns. Beautiful clean ads of their new cars (MP3, RX-8) and within a day or two…they were ALL graffetied. Who did it? They did. Drew traffic to their own enthusiast site. Very effective.
I’m glad you’ve found good help with your HP, but I’m surprised.
Our college runs rampant with broken Compaq laptops. The most common defect is the poorly designed headphone jack. It easily breaks, disabling the speakers and making headphones go mono (I’ve learned the reasons for this, but they’re too dull to mention here.) When this happens, the tech shop has to replace the system board. It’s the problem that took me to the shop over and over last year.
Well, Compaq and HP lines still are different when it comes to the laptop lines. They don’t share similar components, well atleast not from the designs I’ve seen. The HP line is generally a little nicer in quality for the home machines.
All I’ve heard about Compaq is terrible reports, until you get to some of their upper end servers. Then they actually become somewhat less sucky.
If nothing else, at least this will push the meme/word “blog” more into the public consciousness…
HPs strategy is to “inspire people to see the picture in everything” and it showcases the work of amateur photographers. To engage consumers, HP has launched a photo gallery blog called “YOUstories,” designed to encourage people to post their own stories and pictures. The blog photos feature subjects ranging from tennis shoes, to pet pugs, to a bright orange vintage BMW. Many are out of focus or use unconventional framing techniques, with the message clearly being that nothing is too insignificant to be captured on a digital camera.
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/3086541
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