http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/shopper-marketing/e3i4cb8ab67c89c15aa77845e17a2b2937c
HP TURNS MOVIE LOBBIES INTO PRINTER
SHOWROOMS
Reasoning that consumers
had to physically touch its product to get the full experience of it,
Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a cinema campaign for its Photosmart
Premium with TouchSmart Web printer with in-lobby demos.The printer
sports a small touch screen that allows a person to print directly from
it without a computer via simple applications from HP’s content partners
including Fandango, coupons.com, Google Maps, Snapfish, USA Today and
DreamWorks.
 
HP launched the printer in September with a TV,
print and online campaign from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San
Francisco. A TV ad featured animation showing how the printer can be
used to print Google Maps directions. Tagline: “Touch the Web, print the
Web.”Tariq Hassan, vp of marketing for HP, said that campaign, as
extensive as it was, wasn’t enough to convey the benefits of the
printer.”The one thing we knew was touching was believing,” he said.
“It’s such a different mind-set. It’s a new printing distribution
channel. We had to create more than awareness; we had to touch the
consumer. The theater was a natural fit.”
 
HP has used cinema
before, but its past efforts are dwarfed by the latest campaign, which
broke this month and runs through Dec. 24.The estimated seven-figure
in-cinema campaign includes a 30-second spot and HP-themed interstitials
running throughout National CineMedia’s prefeature program on more than
17,300 theater screens, as well as on Screenvision’s theater network.
 
The
spot is also running on National CineMedia’s Lobby Entertainment
Network of 2,600 plasma screens.Further, HP employed an interactive
“lobby domination” strategy in 15 theaters in New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, San Diego, Miami and Houston to bring the printer’s benefits
to the consumer.All manner of signage, from banners and standees to
holographic 3-D kiosks, turned the theater lobby into an HP-branded
event with large-manned HP booths for live demonstrations, complete with
a $50 coupon for the printer, which retails for $399.
 
HP even
used the theaters during off-hours to train retail partners including
Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Staples and Office Depot.”There is nothing
about this campaign that is cookie-cutter,” said Cliff Marks, president
of sales and marketing for NCM, which worked with HP and Omnicom Media
Group over several months to develop the campaign. “We think this is the
future of cinema” advertising, he said.
 
OMG and BBDO report
that the cinema campaign is on track to deliver 50,000 product demos
averaging six minutes in length and 700,000 impressions in the lobby.
“The demo aspect was critical to get the printers in front of consumers.
There are only so many events you can do in-store,” said Garrett Self,
group director for OMG Chicago.While moviegoers expect to see ads from
movie studios for upcoming films, they are less likely to find an
advertiser, let alone high-tech advertising, taking over the lobby.
“Cinema was the place where the target was engaging in a lifestyle
market,” said Phillip Cantilo, svp and account director for BBDO
Atlanta. “We were showing a printer that could print movie tickets. It
was an unexpected place to demo an innovative piece of technology, so it
felt like an event.”