Though Wake Forest students are likely to not purchase a computer of their own choosing until after graduation, all students, from freshmen to seniors, fall within the target demographic the HP television ads cater to. In television, the most sought after demographic would be the 18-49 age group, yet the HP advertisements appear to aim within a narrower range, possibly 18-30. The technology itself and the choice of celebrities reinforce the younger demographic, mostly those who are graduating high school or entering college or beginning careers and are in need of up-to-date computers.
The emphasis on technology and marketing for the newer, savvier generation is made obvious by the viral marketing campaign that accompanied the television advertisements. Advertisements were placed on popular, teen-based Internet sites and even on multiple screens in Times Square, New York. Most notably, HP made a product placement deal with the MTV college station, mtvU, and their global network to essentially sponsor a reality dating series, entitled “Meet or Delete.” Also in conjunction with MTV, a worldwide contest, called “Take Action. Make Art.”, awarded winning graphic designers, presumably of the younger generation, limited production of their design as an HP Imprint, or laptop cover (HP 1-2).
Viral Marketing ad of Serena Williams in Times Square:
The tagline, “The computer is personal again,” spearheads the campaign and the television ads aim to prove just how individual and custom the computers can be. A normal 60 second advertisement begins with the voice and torso of a celebrity. They immediately begin talking about activities in their daily lives, while the area in front of them is filled with complex and eye-pleasing graphics. Fluid hand motions toss away and pull up the different moving visuals as the Achiever ‘candidly’ speaks and transitions to other topics. The end of the advertisement reveals the celebrity’s name and a special title, generally relating to their most well-known accomplishments. A website address directs the viewer to more information about the particular celebrity and the products and to the full-length advertisement, usually around a minute and a half long.
Also, included in the television advertisements is an animated variation of the icon, primarily used for the print advertisement campaign. The hand is, of course, reflective of the animations from the TV ads and a very purposeful creation of the advertising agency. While the hand acts as the body part that connects users and viewers to the technology advertised, it also relates to the font used for the tagline. Fonts containing serifs, such as Times New Roman and Courier New, are considered traditional and, due to their ease of reading, often used in a professional manner. Fonts sans serif, such as Arial and Verdana, give the impression of modernity, cleanliness, and overall technological advancement. However, this font is meant to imply “handwritten,” “relaxed,” and “colloquial” (HP 1). From the style of the font, the viewer makes the assumption that the computers are customizable (personal), easy to use, and accessible to everyone.While the title is not mentioned in any of the actual advertisements, HP has dubbed their celebrity endorsements as ‘Achievers’ (Business Wire). Given its inclusion in the campaign, it can be assumed that the name was chosen with specific implications in mind. For most high school and college students, the word ‘achiever’ is often accompanied with the prefix ‘over-.’ Thus, the term ‘overachiever’ would be rather fitting for the campaign, considering the celebrities selected are often multitalented pioneers in numerous professions. Advertisements televised in the United States have included: Mark Cuban, Mark Burnett, Princess Fiona of the movie ‘Shrek’, Michael Gondry, Jay-Z, Orange County Choppers, Jerry Seinfeld, Gwen Stefani, Vera Wang, Shaun White, Pharrell Williams, and Serena Williams. Obviously, great pains have been taken to ensure that nearly every minority (racially, sexually, career-wise) has been represented. The celebrities have little in common with one another, except for their Achiever-status—movie star, TV producer, music artist, World Champion (traditional and X-Games), fashion designer, or a combination of occupations.
The progression of the TV ads generally reveals a little more about the celebrity in question as each graphic advances to a new activity. Based on the celebrity’s exposure in the media and the viewer’s familiarity with the field, such as an avid sports fan or an aspiring musician, the celebrity can sometimes be identified within seconds. However, HP prefers to gently clue in the viewer, unraveling the commercial almost like a mystery mini-movie, in order to ensure that attention is retained for the entire minute. One full-length advertisement begins with an African-American woman bouncing a virtual tennis ball off a virtual racket, which she unceremoniously tosses away in favor of her photo gallery. Speedily, a collection of photos begin to fall, depicting a serve and the server’s aging simultaneously, while the speaker mentions her father. Most people, or a quick Internet search, contain the piece of trivia that tennis superstars and sisters, Serena and Venus Williams, were trained and coached by their father. Venus or Serena, then, segues into checking out the stats of her tennis competition before literally throwing away a virtual player. She moves into a more familiar subject for the viewer, her music preference before matches, before revealing a not-so-familiar subject, her own video game. More business related topics include emails and a design partnership with Nike, which are offset by chatting with girlfriends and playing computer games. She continues into activities that may be little known about her, a love of animation and an interest in acting, before finally revealing herself as the creator of her own fashion line, Serena Williams, Belle of the Ball.
As with all their advertisements, HP goes to pain-staking lengths to promote a certain image of Serena Williams, one of which portrays her as not only a female but also an African-American female. In spite of talking sports, she’s dressed femininely and one scene specifically presents her gossiping with other girls. Depictions of Williams in both the video game and animation play on stereotypes of the African-American female body type. The title, “Belle of the Ball,” does not seem wholly appropriate for someone best known for her accomplishments on the tennis court but does reinforce Williams as a feminine role model. The scenes are carefully chosen to juxtapose her as both an Achiever—tennis star, video game character, Nike partner, actress, fashion designer—and an everyday person—devoted daughter, music fan, girlfriend, video game nerd.
For the majority of the commercial, focus remains on the Achiever for both HP, who merits only one mention by name, and the audience, who “solves” the advertisement. Like the branding of sports as dissected by Naomi Klein, Hewlett-Packard creates a “fluid partnership between celebrity people and celebrity brands” and “erase[s] all boundaries between the sponsor and the sponsored” (Klein 30, 51). What may not be noticed by the viewer is that more than the Achiever’s name is disclosed at the end of the advertisement; there is also the reveal of the Pavilion product being touted. Since most audiences do not associate computer systems with intrigue, HP has repackaged their product into that of an Achiever with life accomplishments and interesting hobbies, rather than a large hard drive and custom specifications. According to Klein, the objective is not to sell the product, or the Achiever, but to “infuse [the brand] with deep, meaningful messages” (Klein 28). Rather than promote the celebrity, Hewlett-Packard instead promotes the lifestyle depicted in the animated graphics and, by keeping the celebrities faceless and nameless for much of the ad, encourages the viewer to place themselves and their own name into the advertisement. The identity-deficient commercial appears to be sending its audience a profound prophecy: “Achieve to the best of your ability and chase your wildest dreams. One day, you will have your own commercial, complete with impressive visuals, kitschy title, and people who can’t wait to find out who you are…if you use our products.” Talented viewers have already responded accordingly, posting parodies starring themselves or other celebrities on YouTube and likely using the technology advertised. While David Roman, vice president of worldwide marketing communications of HP, insists that “[t]he focus is on what they’re doing with their computer, not who they are,” the advertisements ultimately focus on the product, as Williams proclaims, “My computer knows everything I am, and everything I want to be” (USA Today).
Parody of Keanu Reeves:
Works Cited
“HP Unveils Chic Computing Portfolio, New Media Relationships to Inspire Work, Power Play.” 5 September 2007. Business Wire. 21 April 2008. <>
/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070905006517&newsLang=en>
Jones, Brent. “Serena Williams gets personal with HP” USA Today. 28 August 2007. < http://
www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2007-08-28-serena-williams_N.htm>
Klein, Naomi. No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs. Picador: New York, 2002.
“The Computer Is Personal Again, A Global, Integrated Marketing Campaign.” 2006 Hewlett-Packard Press Kit. 21 April 2008. <www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2006/
mobility/fs_gdr_pacampaign.pdf>
6 comments:
Like Nike, HP uses celebrities in their ads. However, HP uses a variety of different people that represent several cultures instead of choosing one person to promote an ideal. They are seeking to appeal to a broad spectrum, an age group that lives for the idea of individuality and individual success. On the other hand, Nike chose one person and built an image for the product around that. How do you think the images differ between the Nike and HP commercials? How are their strategies differ, is one more effective? HP seems to be more of a reaction to society, while the Nike ads seem to be creating a sports culture and icons of their own.
Something I would have liked to learn more about in your paper is why HP chose this particular advertising "route." Why did they choose to mainly advertise personalization rather than ability? HP's wanting to place "more emphasis on empowering users...and less emphasis on the "feeds and speeds" is similar to the approach Apple has been using in some recent ads. Apple has been focusing on some ways that allows personalization and individualization rather than an emphasis on the hardware specs. HP also seems to be taking another similar Apple strategy in that they are targeting a youthful marget segment.
The Achiever campaign seems to be well in line with many of the other advertisements that have been written about in this project. Taking Serena’s commercial as an example, HP is creating the image of a well put together woman who has achievements all over the board. She is not just a tennis player, but a fashion designer, an actress, a video game character, and the list goes on. HP is creating a persona for their brand, an over-achiever/highly successful persona that appears to go with purchasing a computer. They are selling not only their product, but the idea of being successful just like the celebrities who show up in their commercials. Do you believe that an HP computer will actually help someone be successful, or is this simply another marketing ploy to manipulate consumers? The parody at the end of your paper shows just how deeply consumers have bought in to the persona HP has created. They not only associate the brand with this idea of high achievement, but they seem to be drawn to it.
Using celebrities to show all different groups of young people that the new HP is the computer to buy is an interesting technique. Like Nike and various other campaigns, celebrities get the attention of consumers. People that have that "achiever" status are the ones promoting the new product and it works well for the younger target audience that HP has choosen. Maybe Hp feels that young people want to be like these icons, and by purchasing a computer similar to the ones these Achievers are promoting, they will one day become an Achiever themselves. It seems that the emphasis is on the people themselves rather than the new features of the computer. Do you think HP is selling these big names rather than their products?
It is interesting how HP focuses on individuality. In American culture there seems to be a large focus on "being individual" or "being unique." Everyone wants to have their own image. This is different than many other advertisements that try to promote a product that is an extension of someone's personality or that associates a certain image with someone who wears/uses/etc. that product. By marketing a product that promises individuality, HP largely focuses on the consumer and not as much (directly) their product. I think that it is important in the way you describe how the commercials are created so that they retain the view's attention, since the only mention of the product is the last few seconds of the ad.
HP's scheme is a pretty standard one I think. They seem to be selling that "individualism" that everyone else is trying to do, but bringing it to the computer world is truly the interesting thing about it. By focusing on the customization possibilities of the new HPs, they are able to just create one more thing that people feel they can make an extension of their self. Using the celebrities was also an interesting route, you don't seen that very often in the computer business with the exception of apple. It will be interesting to see if other companies follow HP in this new attack on the market...
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