HP raises profile with $400m global ad campaign

NEW YORK - HP has launched a $400m (£250m) global advertising campaign to tell customers that it does more than just make printers and PCs.

It is the first advertising campaign since Hewlett-Packard and Compaq merged earlier this year, and will run in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Television spots, created by Omnicom Group-owned Goodby Silverstein & Partners, feature some of HP's biggest clients and explains how the company has helped them to improve the services they offer.

One execution shows how HP has helped NASA in space exploration programmes; a second shows how HP has worked with DreamWorks animators to create a new generation of animation; another shows how it has helped birdwatchers in Finland record the GPS location of rare birds.

The campaign will also include print, online and outdoor media. The first ads appeared in today's issue of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

The brand campaign introduces the tag line "everything is possible" and an equation device -- (customer) + hp = everything is possible -- to communicate HP's focus on partnership.

Allison Johnson, HP senior vice-president global brand and communications, said: "Today, most people think of HP as a great printer and PC company. We are certainly proud of our leadership in these areas, but when you consider that HP powers more than 100 stock and commodity exchanges; we support 95% of the world's securities transactions; we help process two out of every three credit card transactions; and we are the world's leading technology supplier to consumers and small and medium businesses -- there's a lot that people don't know about HP."

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