HP: Don't mention the merger

NEWS Hewlett-Packard kicked off a new brand advertising campaign today, spending hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to convince businesses of its technology strength. The advertising campaign focuses on first-hand experiences of HP customers. However, in a clear attempt to put the challenges of the Compaq merger behind it, HP's ads make no mention of the acquisition. "We are HP," said Karen Jones, the company's director of worldwide brand advertising. The company did not even consider featuring the acquisition or overtly highlighting the combined strength of the two companies as part of the campaign, Jones said. "It was always about moving forward." For the first six months following the completion of the merger in May, company executives often referred to the company as "the new HP." That phrase has since been banned within the company. Following the departure last week of president Michael Capellas, HP has been trying to make the case that much of the merger integration work is behind it and the company is ready for business. HP did not offer a specific dollar amount on the brand campaign, but said overall ad spending over the next 12 months will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In the new ads, HP shows its work with a particular customer, then makes the case that the customer "+ HP = everything is possible". Analyst Amy Wohl, who heads up US technology consulting firm Wohl Associates, said HP's ads are aimed at doing more than just showing testimonials they are aimed at freeing HP's stodgy image. "They are a company that builds really reliable products and has a reputation for service," Wohl said. "They are also boring."
The campaign has a large online advertising component. Although the company would not say how much of its budget is going toward web ads, Mary Bermel, HP's interactive marketing director, said, "Our audiences tend to use the web to get their information." In the online ads, customers can see HP's work step by step, either within the ad or in some cases by going to a separate website. The company is advertising on a variety of consumer and industry sites, including a complete takeover of Yahoo's main page on Monday. The campaign will launch in the US and in international media this year, expanding into Europe then Asia and the rest of the world next year. The company has already overhauled its consumer and business-to-business websites. Ahead of the new ad campaign, Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich panned the overall theme of the ads, noting that slogans that could apply to any number of companies are not the way to go. "In our view, most slogans are meaningless generalities," Milunovich said. "A good slogan would be hard to associate with another company." Ian Fried writes for News.com.