Word-of-Mouth MarketingCase Study

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HP Consumer Tablet

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HP Consumer Tablet Campaign

HP was seeking new and different means to bring their “The PC is Personal Again” campaign to life with their new tablet PCs.

HP’s North American Consumer Computing group had been working with influencers (bloggers & forum owners), but wanted to go beyond traditional PR outreach to extend the conversation both before and after launch.

HP was seeking to deepen its commitment to the blogosphere and support new media initiatives that would build strong relationships in this unique community of influencers.

Budgets and metrics were closely monitored at HP, so getting more results for less money was one of the marketing goals.

HP was also interested in discussing its design philosophy and what makes a “Computer Personal Again.”

In today’s world, consumers search online to find the right PC and have come to rely on experts’ detailed information and opinions to learn about product features/benefits before making a purchasing decision

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The Challenge

Engage influencers by initiating and fostering meaningful and relevant relationships that tap into both their vast readership and wealth of consumer product experience

Develop a strategy that enabled HP to talk with influencers, not at them, in such way that value is realized by both parties

Create an on-going relationship that benefitted both HP and the influencers for the long term.

Campaign Goals

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1. Firmly establish HP with the influencers who could recommend products and drive sales.

2. Stimulate HP brand preference in the blogosphere and garner a disproportionate share of the conversation by creating a network of influencers.

3. Leverage this network’s reader base and subsequent reach to gain actionable customer, market and product insights on HP and its competitors.

4. Showcase and prompt community recognition of HP’s innovative product design.

Campaign Strategies

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1. Brought HP Marketing and PR together to present a human face and customer-centric perspective to the community.

2. Asked the influencers what they wanted from HP and what was needed to deliver.

3. Leveraged partners to showcase complementary best-of-breed technology while sharing costs.

Campaign Tactics

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Identify 15 to 20 influencers and provide them a TX-series notebook for long-term review to use in real-world scenarios.

Leverage Gnomedex, the largest blogger-only conference, to get direct feedback from the influencers on future HP offerings.

Showcase HP existing products and have HP’s lead designer discuss the form and function of his team’s work.

Build a private forum for HP to field questions and feedback in real-time, allowing influencers to drive the conversation.

Incorporate the influencers’ feedback into building the next TX-series

Provide influencers with content that they can repurpose for their specific audiences

Identify other avenues to expand as the discussion grows on- and offline

WOM Delivers ROI for HP (1)

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Met with over 300 bloggers/influencers at Gnomedex in July 2007

Coverage resulted in more than 8.5 million unique views from 50+ posts in first 30 days alone

—Numerous sites polled their communities and drove HP-centric conversations with very favorable discussions about HP’s approach

— TX-series became one of the top searched-for products after having been in the middle of the pack after its launch

HP Design Forum launched with 200+ influencers

– Discussions were all about everything they needed and wanted in notebooks from people who see virtually every PC introduced

– HP got credit for initiating the conversations and maintaining an influencer-centric approach

WOM delivers ROI for HP (2)

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Influencers’ posts consistently rank among the top 20 in Google search results and express third-party endorsement

10 of first 20 results

from WOMSearch: Sept 2007

Est. 3.5 to 4 million viewers over first 30 days

“The design for the TX1000 is one of the sleekest and most stylish designs I have ever seen! In fact, all of HP's laptops over the past six months have been looking better and better with each release of a new machine. A lot of laptop makers aren't even trying to make a good looking machine; they are just building a machine that works. HP obviously is heading in the right direction with their new laptop designs..”

9 of first 20 results

from WOMSearch: Sept 2007

WOM Delivers ROI for HP (3)

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We took advantage of Bar Camp Palo Alto to invite 10 influencers to the HP Garage and use the HP legacy to make the design story, and resulting conversation, even more compelling.

8 of first 20 results from WOMEst. 3 million viewers over first 30 days

“For the three people on the planet who don’t understand the role of that garage… It is the birthplace of Silicon Valley. It is the iconic image of entrepreneurs everywhere who come up with ideas for companies in their metaphorical garages and dream of taking them to worldwide audiences. It is the probably the most important historical building in Silicon Valley.”

Search: Sept 2007

Sustaining Results

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HP commits to WOM

• Relationships formed at Gnomedex continued to yield benefits a year after the show

• HP continued to engage influencers in new and innovative ways (“31 Days of the Dragon” promotion), always on their own terms

• Influencers continued their brand preference and embraced subsequent HP promotions

• Influencers had more and better access to HP at all levels, giving them more and better content so they could grow their readership

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In Conclusion

HP sought new ways to engage highly opinionated, high-profile customers

Gap analysis revealed community-engagement opportunity via WOM approach

Relationship-building combined with WOM marketing was determined to be extremely cost-effective

HP partnered with Ivy Worldwide, Inc. (formerly Buzz Corps) to devise strategy, tactics and metrics to ensure long-term success in blogosphere

Resulting boost in consumer awareness and positive discussion led to significant sales gains

HP acquired product, market and competitive intelligence that outstripped expectations

Community engagement strategies became increasingly integrated into HP marketing practices

HP positioned for continued success by virtue of strong influencer relationships

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