Infinity Marketing Team

iMedia Connection, May 2004

"You+HP" tour offers lessons in seamless integration of entertainment, education and selling.

Hewlett-Packard's radically vibrant "You + HP Experience" consumer campaign, launched in October of last year, is still going strong. What critics highlighted as one of the technology industry’s biggest strategic and creative winners has become the most ambitious and expensive ($300 million) global campaign in HP's 64-year history.

HP launched its year-long "YOU + HP Experience" mobile interactive tour

As an extension, HP launched its year-long "YOU + HP Experience" mobile interactive tour on April 1. It stops at high-profile venues and major retail and sports events across the country. While the integrated tour program educates consumers on how the company’s digital photography and entertainment products can enhance everyday experiences, its true brilliance lies in the simultaneous ability to provide media-hungry consumers with free entertainment.

Tour visitors learn firsthand what it feels like to control the entire picture-making process: They can photograph themselves in famous pop-culture experiences using HP digital cameras and themed backdrops, print out images of themselves, then share the images with others while relaxing in a simulated home theater.

The concept evolved from the 2002-2003 success of company’s three-vehicle "Bringing it Home Tour," which visited 1,000 events, attracted more than 700,000 people, and landed PROMO Magazine's 2003 PRO Award for Best Mobile Marketing Program.

This year’s tour, larger and more emotionally driven, has a different goal: increasing visitor volume.

Strategy: a numbers game

To accommodate more visitors than last year, HP designed a structure that is modular, fully-enclosed, size-flexible and customizable for each event. Separate concourses for sampling, retail and online participation support the integrated strategy.

HP’s event agency chose sites and partners that would attract its two core target markets: families and "empty-nesters." For example, state fairs primarily lure families, while the PGA Classic is flooded with baby-boomers. Other events have included the NCAA Final Four Championship, the Boston Marathon and Fitness Expo, and the 130th Kentucky Derby and Oaks races.

The company’s audience isn’t limited solely to these two segments, however. Consumers of all ages and backgrounds have been interacting with HP products.

"Dads reach for cameras while the kids play on PCs and moms check the price tags on printers," says Bob Major, event marketing manager, HP Imaging and Printing Group.

Following supply vs. stimulating demand

Last year’s campaign featured television, print, online banner and outdoor ad components designed to drive consumers to the "You + HP" Web site. This year, the company determined that upfront advertising was not necessary -- other than the small amount pushed by the event agency -- since the massive volume of event attendees would generate enough awareness.

"We’re using the money we saved (by not advertising) on enhancing the physical structure to accommodate more visitors. Unlike other high technology events, we’ve been able to house 70,000 people in one day," Major says." The first five events have been incredibly received, attracting an average of 20,000 people per event who spend 45 to 60 minutes inside the structure. How often can technology companies say they get that much time with potential customers?"

In the next year, he projects that 850,000 consumers will use HP products at the 42 remaining events in the United States and Canada -- including the Indianapolis 500, Milwaukee's Summerfest, the Taste of Dallas, the New York State Fair and NFL games.

Thus far, the mobile tour has succeeded in creating a digital photography movement that is interactive and original while reinforcing the importance of HP product innovation. But how effective is it at stimulating sales?

The direct component cannot be overlooked

The tour’s connection to retail is not as direct as last year’s tour, which placed trucks outside of the stores’ entrances. However, the company set up within the structure an actual retail store, through which consumers can purchase small- to medium-sized products. Larger items can be purchased online from computers in the Cyber Lounge area, by clicking on the recommended links -- the homepages of Best Buy, HP and Staples.

Not just for shopping, the Cyber Lounge’s HP Media Center PCs and notebooks allow visitors to print and send photos, email friends and browse the news. Users first see the hip Web page, which automatically generates awareness, memory and an emotional connection for the company’s site. One highlight is the stylish online photo gallery blog, where consumers can submit their personal photos and essays for public display.

Incorporating Flash throughout the gallery brings to life the value of personal stories and the benefits of HP products, while enticing browsers to appreciate the enhanced imagery and breakthrough color. Additionally, demos illustrate the simplicity of using HP products to download and send digital photographs. Soon a virtual tour will be implemented to showcase video clips of the lively events.

Dual tracking: entrances and exits

HP has incorporated strong tracking devices to measure the tour’s effectiveness and also support future customer satisfaction research.

When visitors walk through the entrance, employees use counters to track traffic, and then encourage visitors to register in the "Win with HP" sweepstakes, which awards prizes to 30 winners every six weeks. Second, HP can follow up with an email or phone call to gain customer feedback from those who opted to be contacted on the registration form. The company also designed a survey that will gather visitors’ perceptions, reactions and purchasing behavior. Acquiring an email database will also help to maintain on-going relationships with interested consumers. Lastly, HP conducts casual exit polls as visitors leave the structure, many with HP shopping bags in hand.

The "You + HP Experience" tour is a lesson to marketers how to seamlessly combine entertaining, educational and selling elements into one campaign. As difficult as a mobile tour can be, the strategic, execution and creative components of the marketing plan remarkably have all been on par with the company’s reputation for high-quality products.

Will this be another award-winning tour that generates significant return on investment for HP? If a picture really is worth a thousand words, this campaign is certainly valuable based on volume alone.