Hewlett-Packard Targets Teens

Hewlett-Packard is launching a back-to-school campaign with a twist: 70 percent of the spending will support online efforts.

The shift reverses HP's '06 back-to-school spending strategy, when the company earmarked 70 percent of the media outlay for traditional channels. The company is making the change largely because it has broadened its target audience this year from parents buying computers to include teenagers who often drive purchase decisions.


The "Society for Parental Mind Control" push, created by Interpublic Group's McCann Erickson in San Francisco, centers around teens' desire to make their parents do what they want. It uses several viral elements to encourage teens to spread the message. At the center of the effort is a brand site that allows visitors to send "mind control" messages to their parents with specific products like a laptop or desktop.

The campaign has begun rolling out and will run until September.

Executions designed to drive users to the site will run on many social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and Flip. Roman said the media plan, created and executed by ZenithOptimedia, includes 80 sites, with more money going to niche areas where teens spend more of their time.

Offline executions, mostly geared to parents, include a series of direct response TV ads and a Sunday supplement. Roman said the budget shift came at the expense of TV and print. HP declined to reveal overall spending for the push.

The work will live on ControltheirMinds.com, YouTube and other video sites. (Tamer versions form the basis of some of the TV spots.) HP hopes the videos follow the viral success of "Fingerskilz," an effort from the U.K. last year purporting to show a bored office worker's fingers juggling a rolled up paper soccer ball.

Depending on the back-to-school campaign's success, the "mind control" theme could be revived for other promotional periods, such as the holiday season, Roman said.

Source: www.adweek.com