The Campaign

The global PC market has gone through substantial changes over the last few years. This is culminated in a difficult time for many companies within the industry. Despite the challenges that are faced globally, the Chinese market has continued to expand, now representing 22% of global trade. In 2012 alone, the PC market in China grew by 11.3%, alongside an explosion in smartphone and tablet sales. Therefore, the PC industry in China represents a huge opportunity for companies such as HP. The challenge for industry leaders is how to ensure your voice is heard in an increasingly crowded market place? The answer for HP was in leveraging the launch of Windows 8. In close cooperation with HP we held the “Live Outside of the Box” media event before Windows 8 launch to win key influencers’ attention. The event also incorporated executive interviews via an NPI tour, Product demos and innovative hands-on experience sessions. Through a first-hand personal experience with the product, we were able to leverage the key benefits of HP Windows 8 products, that they help you balance work and life seamlessly. The success of this narrative was acknowledged by key opinion leaders and amplified across social media. Executive speeches and media briefings helped to explain how HP can be Microsoft’s leading Win 8 launch partner and deliver the best Win 8 Experience. This overarching approach contributed to mass coverage across a wide range of media platforms including TV, magazines, IT portals, and micro-blogs.

The Brief

The central pillar of the campaign was to ensure that HP became the main benefactor of the Windows 8 launch, essentially driving their own sales by piggy backing on the launch of Windows 8. The main strands to achieving this were to ensure HP had something different to say compared to the competitive noise and ensure HP’s message was that it delivered the best Windows 8 experience and thus became brand of choice among businesses and consumers.

Results

Our goal was to ensure that when people thought of Windows 8 then they automatically thought of HP products. To aid this we ensured a total of 58 journalists from 54 Top media outlets (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing) attended the event, including 2 TV stations, 37 IT media and 15 fashion/lifestyle and metropolitan newspapers. The consequence of which in just one month, more than 1,045 press hits come out. In addition to the print media exposure, tweets about the event reached 5,802,184 fans and generated 1,553 retweets and comments. The marketplace during the Windows 8 launch was incredibly crowded so making sure your voice was heard could be incredibly difficult. However, our sustain approach to the media, online buzz, and hands-on experience ensured that HP captured the highest share of voice during the period designated as the Windows 8 launch.

Execution

As part of our tiered strategic approach, we implemented in phases. Pre-Launch • Aware of all competitors engagements during Windows 8 launch • Steady flow of Windows 8 product announcements before Windows 8 availability via press releases • Visit and product preview in Shanghai with key media KOLs to consolidate industry insight on how to promote HP windows 8 products Launch • HP Executives’ speech—to explain why HP is Microsoft’s leading Win 8 launch partner. • Scenario-play session—to demonstrate how HP Windows 8 products can help people balance their life. • Media interviews—to disseminate HP’s strategy for Windows 8, underlining why HP Windows 8 products are the market leader. • First-hand experience—key media and KOLs spontaneously live broadcast to convey positive attitude about the products via Weibo. Post-Launch • Staggered media reports via various KOLs (including IT, Lifestyle, and Design) and discussion/interaction within new media.

The Situation

Global PC sales have been in gradual decline over the last five quarters as the industry looks to be shifting towards new forms of touch technology. The launch of a new Windows system historically is an important event within the PC industry, spurring greater media interest and driving revenues of PC suppliers. In China, HP was hoping to use this launch to help drive demand. HP needed to find a way to stand out in a crowded market place and become the brand of choice for businesses and consumers when using Windows 8.

The Strategy

To ensure the success of the campaign over a controlled period of time and to maximize the connotations that our target audience would make between HP and Windows 8, we decided upon a piecemeal incremental process that would target a broad range of stakeholders. It would be based on the twin approach leveraging and experience. Therefore: 1. Prior to Microsoft Win 8 availability HP released a series of press release to build the connotation between HP as the home of Windows 8. 2. Engage influencers and key opinion leaders to shape opinions and earn endorsements for new HP Windows 8 product with IT and Lifestyle media. 3. Bind the efficient lifestyle Windows 8 to HP products by first-hand experience and vivid hands-on play at event held at the main HP tech station in Shanghai. 4. Sustained connection with influencer’s and social media world via personal accounts.