H.P. Enlists Young Celebrities to Help Sell TouchPad
Russell Brand recorded a commercial for H.P.'s TouchPad in Los Angeles.
Mr. Brand, a former substance abuser known for his high jinks, wryly asks his digital helper to check the (unlikely) status of his knighthood. “Again?” asks the digital butler. “Yes again, please,” Mr. Brand repeats, in an exasperated tone.
Being front and center for H.P. is a moment to savor for Mr. Brand, the star of the remake of “Arthur” and the debauched boyfriend in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” In his down-and-out earlier years in London, he was a telephone salesman for H.P. copier cartridges. He was fired after four days on the job.
“I hope today goes a little better,” he joked during the TouchPad filming last month in Los Angeles.
Tying its marketing to Mr. Brand and Miranda Cosgrove and Lea Michele — stars of Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” and Fox Broadcasting’s “Glee,” respectively — H.P. is underscoring its slogan that the TouchPad “Works Like Nothing Else.”
And to add a little swagger, the company also hired Manny Pacquiao, the champion Filipino welterweight boxer, politician and aspiring singer, to advertise its compact Veer smartphone and its multitouch tablet.
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“It’s not about what the TouchPad and Veer do, but how they do it,” said Eric Keshin, senior vice president for strategy and marketing at H.P.’s Personal Services Group.
The “how” is the company’s WebOS operating system, which allows several functions to operate simultaneously. It was acquired when H.P. bought Palm last year. The operating system also features what H.P. calls Synergy — the ability to integrate online information, including calendars, e-mail and photo libraries, into one location.
As part of the campaign, the company’s Web site has posted eight brief videos of Mr. Brand — separate from the television spot — to explain TouchPad’s features. In addition to having Ms. Michele and Mr. Pacquiao on board for its tablet advertising, H.P. is planning television commercials this month with the hip-hop star Jay-Z, and the Miami Heat forward LeBron James — perhaps appearing together — to use in a major back-to-school push for its new devices.
The H.P. campaign includes a bundle of social media efforts, especially a Facebook application called TouchPad LaunchLine, where visitors can answer trivia questions, watch videos and involve friends, all of which enhance their ability to move ahead in contests for 100 TouchPads and other prizes like a tennis game with Serena Williams or a racecar ride with Mario Andretti.
The TouchPad and Veer are the first salvos in H.P.’s longer-term plan to add the WebOS operating system to its signature product, printers, and to its personal computers, which have had a decline in sales recently, according to company financial figures.
For now, H.P.’s “Touch to Share” feature allows Veer and the TouchPad to dock and transfer data. It lets, for example, the TouchPad owner transmit a downloaded recipe and its list of ingredients to a Veer. That list can be accessed while shopping at the grocery store.
In seeking to trump its tablet rivals like Apple’s iPad, H.P. is appealing to teenage music fans with Ms. Michele, Glee’s comedic and singing actress. She is highlighting the TouchPad’s ability to play flash videos from the Web and the sound system, “HP Beats Audio.” In another video, Ms. Cosgrove touts WebOS features on the Veer phone, including its navigation system, Web browsing and video playing.
Source: www.nytimes.com
