Cherryflava

HP’s borrowed creativity

Posted on 17. Oct, 2006 by Jonathan Cherry in Advertising

Well, well, well – what have we here?

Local blogger, Triggermap – kindly focused our attention on the remarkable similarity of the new HP print ads to the cover design of Jonathan Safran Foer’s second novel, which as far as we can work out was designed in 2004 by these guys. [book cover on the left, HP rip-off on the right]

As it turns out, the print ads are all part of HP’s global campaign to make PCs sexy and desirable. You might have noticed the new TV spot for HP, featuring Jay-Z talking about himself. Other spots in the campaign feature gold-medal snowboarder Shaun White,
hip-hop producer Pharrell, and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

The idea behind this current campaign is to create, from scratch, a
personality for the brand—preferably one that appeals to college kids.
(Both because they buy a lot of notebooks and because it’s good to lock
in brand loyalty at an early age.)

Tech + hip hop icon / supermodel / sports star endorsement is nothing new. Apple had the idea of celeb computer sexiness boosting with Gisele Bündchen and 50 cent.

Coincidence – or should HP be looking for a new agency with more original creativity?

See:
HP’s Personal campaign
The celebrity laptop – Slate
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Amazon