Monday, November 29, 2004
The brilliant, pointless branding campaign
Adam Greenfield has an excellent appraisal of HP's current ad campaigns. Terrific brand ads such as everything is possible. The problem is that HP doesn't have refined products to back up the ads. HP products compete in lots of areas and don't really stand out. Their consumer products are well made but why, for example, should I purchase an HP digital camera over, say, a Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, etc? And why would I purchase an HP iPod over an Apple iPod? The HP brand ad campaigns for digital photography and digital music are well done but why buy HP over their competitors?
Years ago, HP built solid technical products that stood out for their excellent engineering. Today's HP is a very different company. It competes in markets where there are lots of other choices. I'm no marketing genius but I don't think you can create a positive brand identity without innovative products to back up a slick advertising campaign.
Note: I'm not dumping on HP products. I've owned several HP products and they've all been well made. I still own an HP LaserJet 4m. It's nearly twelve years old and still works great. And my ancient HP 25 calculator still works great too.
Years ago, HP built solid technical products that stood out for their excellent engineering. Today's HP is a very different company. It competes in markets where there are lots of other choices. I'm no marketing genius but I don't think you can create a positive brand identity without innovative products to back up a slick advertising campaign.
Note: I'm not dumping on HP products. I've owned several HP products and they've all been well made. I still own an HP LaserJet 4m. It's nearly twelve years old and still works great. And my ancient HP 25 calculator still works great too.
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