SAN FRANCISCO-Hewlett-Packard will look within, and possibly beyond, its agency roster for a shop to handle a $100 million global campaign.
HP is asking roster shops Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Publicis & Hal Riney and Saatchi & Saatchi, all in San Francisco, for ideas.
If it isn’t satisfied with the proposals, it will talk to outside agencies, said Ian Ryder, the company’s Palo Alto, Calif.-based director of global brand management. HP plans to implement the effort in the next eight to 12 months, he said.
While Ryder said it takes “time and money” to bring in a new agency, he noted HP “would be foolish not to consider all of [its] options.” Sources estimate the assignment to be worth at least $100 million-an amount roughly equal to HP’s budgets for other global projects, such as Riney’s campaign for HP’s Business PC Organization. The client spends about $90 million on ads in the U.S. alone.
“We really need to understand the consumer market and own our place in it,” added Ryder. “For years, we were a stealth brand. Then suddenly [consumers] were buying our printers, and we found out that we were well-known and respected, but we weren’t managing that success.”
HP has been conducting research for months on how to convey its “core brand values” to consumers.
Separately, the company is looking for an agency to handle the estimated $50 million global account of its yet-to-be named spin-off, which encompasses its medical components and test and measurement businesses. The client has been talking with McCann-Erickson, New York, which plans to pitch the business with its San Francisco office, said sources.
Shirley Horn, director of brand management for the spin-off, said there is an “urgent need to name our company and launch the brand” because of plans to go public.
Horn said the new assignment will not affect existing agency relationships. Think New Ideas, Seattle, handles product-specific work for the test and measurement group. ƒ
HP Roster Gets First Crack At Global Task
