HP Turns Movie Lobbies Into Printer Showrooms

Reasoning that consumers had to physically touch its product to get the full experience of it, Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a cinema campaign for its Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web printer with in-lobby demos. The printer sports a small touch screen that allows a person to print directly from it without a computer via simple applications from HP's content partners including Fandango, coupons.com, Google Maps, Snapfish, USA Today and DreamWorks. HP launched the printer in September with a TV, print and online campaign from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. A TV ad featured animation showing how the printer can be used to print Google Maps directions. Tagline: "Touch the Web, print the Web."Tariq Hassan, vp of marketing for HP, said that campaign, as extensive as it was, wasn't enough to convey the benefits of the printer. "The one thing we knew was touching was believing," he said. "It's such a different mind-set. It's a new printing distribution channel. We had to create more than awareness; we had to touch the consumer. The theater was a natural fit." HP has used cinema before, but its past efforts are dwarfed by the latest campaign, which broke this month and runs through Dec. 24. The estimated seven-figure in-cinema campaign includes a 30-second spot and HP-themed interstitials running throughout National CineMedia's prefeature program on more than 17,300 theater screens, as well as on Screenvision's theater network. The spot is also running on National CineMedia's Lobby Entertainment Network of 2,600 plasma screens. Further, HP employed an interactive "lobby domination" strategy in 15 theaters in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami and Houston to bring the printer's benefits to the consumer. All manner of signage, from banners and standees to holographic 3-D kiosks, turned the theater lobby into an HP-branded event with large-manned HP booths for live demonstrations, complete with a $50 coupon for the printer, which retails for $399. HP even used the theaters during off-hours to train retail partners including Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Staples and Office Depot. "There is nothing about this campaign that is cookie-cutter," said Cliff Marks, president of sales and marketing for NCM, which worked with HP and Omnicom Media Group over several months to develop the campaign. "We think this is the future of cinema" advertising, he said. OMG and BBDO report that the cinema campaign is on track to deliver 50,000 product demos averaging six minutes in length and 700,000 impressions in the lobby. "The demo aspect was critical to get the printers in front of consumers. There are only so many events you can do in-store," said Garrett Self, group director for OMG Chicago. While moviegoers expect to see ads from movie studios for upcoming films, they are less likely to find an advertiser, let alone high-tech advertising, taking over the lobby. "Cinema was the place where the target was engaging in a lifestyle market," said Phillip Cantilo, svp and account director for BBDO Atlanta. "We were showing a printer that could print movie tickets. It was an unexpected place to demo an innovative piece of technology, so it felt like an event."

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HP Turns Movie Lobbies Into Printer Showrooms

Katy Bachman

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Katy Bachman