HP: EPRINT LIVE

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Social Media
Advertiser: HP
Product/Service: HP EPRINT
Senior Vice President: Caroline Titmuss (Porter Novelli)
Vice President: McKaela Moran (Porter Novelli)
Executive Producer: Ben Stein (Porter Novelli)
Director: Matthew Mills (Space Station)
Vice President: Amy Tokarski (Porter Novelli)
Creative Director: Ari Elkouby (Proximity)
Producer: Carter Edwards (Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre)
Account Supervisor: Sarah Brown (Proximity)
Creative Director: Rohit Sang (Crux Digital)
Associate Media Director, Social & Mobile Strategy: Mickey Mantas (OMG)
Strategist: Ann Lee (OMG)
Producer: Jason Dick (Proximity)
Media placement: Standard Ads - 4 Variations - Facebook - 21 January 2011
Media placement: Digital Video Ads - Google Display Network - 17 Janaury 2011
Media placement: YouTube RoadBlock - YouTube Homepage - 21 January 2011
Media placement: Event Ads - Facebook - 18 January 2011
Media placement: YouTube Promoted Videos - YouTube - 17 January 2011
Media placement: Promoted Twitter Account - Twitter - 10 January 2001
Media placement: Promoted Twitter Trend - Twitter - 22 January 2011
Media placement: Promoted Tweet - Twitter - 13 Janaury 2011
Summary of the Campaign
Let’s get it out there; in general people don’t think printing is exciting. When HP launched its new technology (ePrint) that allows people to print easily from mobile devices, it proved to be a hurdle for the younger generation to believe printing had changed. Our challenge was to wake up people to the relevance and simplicity of HP ePrint technology and get them experiencing it across social networks.
HP partnered with Google / YouTube to launch a new form of branded entertainment designed to drive mass trial, awareness and advocacy for ePrint technology; that’s how 'ePrint Live' was born. Viewers were given a platform (YouTube) and a means (ePrint) to create their own customized, socially networked, on-demand improvisational comedy show. HP ePrint Live put viewers in the director’s chair – enabling them to ePrint improv ideas to the printer on stage.
We rose to the challenge; conversation around ePrint reached an all-time high and advocacy shifted from 6 to nearly 50 percent. The program achieved 2.3 million video views and half a million minutes of engagement with viewers tuning in live for an astonishing 19.5 minutes, comparable to a TV show but with a highly targeted audience.
The Situation
In 2010 HP introduced printers that could talk to the cloud through a service called ePrint; a genius technology that allows people to print from any device, virtually anywhere in the world. After a significant news announcement and advertising campaign HP recognized that in order to make people understand that printing had changed, they would need to create a mass trial for people to see it in action.
The younger generation is accustomed to not printing; shifting their perception is critical to the future of the category. We decided to develop a unique program that would grab their attention.
The Goal
The goal was to socialize ePrint with the mobile generation in an interactive way to drive and measure understanding and advocacy for the technology. We wanted to go beyond creating 'buzz' to generate unique sharable content hand-in-hand with the viewers to personalize the experience and give the program longevity. It was also critical for us to utilize a range of social channels to increase awareness, encourage participation and trial, as well as build sustainable, active communities for the future.
The Strategy
Our strategy was to socialize ePrint on a mass scale and ignite new interest in printing through a fun, experiential event. We combined owned, earned and paid media to build excitement, drive participation and sustain the conversation in order to maximize impact and achieve scale.
Grounded in powerful customer insights and focusing on future behaviour change we chose to create a program where our target audience lives and through channels with built-in audiences to amplify the content. This included internal stakeholder communication, YouTube teaser videos, and customized videos from celebrity hosts and guests. As the first crowd-sourced live comedy show on YouTube we had to ensure the conversation was engaging and the content was rich throughout the live show and five days of activity following the live event.
Execution
Buzz – We engaged YouTube personalities Charles Trippy and The Fine Bros for teaser videos about ePrint Live, which received unprecedented attention. This was accompanied by a YouTube homepage takeover ad and reveals by Mashable.com and the New York Times. We also created digital ads featured on Facebook and across the Google Display Network.
Main Event – A two-hour live streaming show hosted by comedian Rob Riggle with audience inspired skits performed by the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre. The show was streamed across YouTube, Facebook and mobile site with a call-to-action to participate. We harnessed HP fans across owned channels and reached audiences through a Twitter storm (promoted and organic).
Momentum – Five days of rapid response with the UCB recording custom comedy shorts selected from the 5,000 ePrinted suggestions. The videos were posted on the video channel and sent back to the viewer to share across their networks.
Documented Results
We rose to the challenge – we made ePrint worth considering and worth talking about. We more than doubled the cumulative conversation around ePrint, to reach an all time high and advocacy for ePrint mentions shifted from 6 to nearly 50 percent. Social engagement also increased, with more than 32,000 new Twitter followers, 11.7 million in Tweet reach and more than 62,000 Facebook page visits. The campaign was featured in 133 outlets including an online exclusive with Mashable.
The program achieved 1 billion impressions, 2.3 million total video views and nearly half a million minutes of engagement in one day. Viewers sent ePrint suggestions at a rate of 25 a minute during the live show and tuned in for an average of 19.5 minutes; engagement time comparative to a TV sitcom but with a highly targeted and engaged audience, all for the price of one TV commercial.