Campaign: Bend the Rules
Brand: HP?
Company : HP India
Agency: BBDO
The Campaign
This campaign comprises a television commercial featuring Deepika Padukone, the principal webisode featuring stand-up comedian Abish Mathew that talks about how society is not always right and why people should bend the rules, and finally the short videos on millennials who dare to do things differently. The television ad opens with Padukone bumping into Rohan Pratap, a banker turned baker on a flight and telling him how she is in awe of him and his online cake shop. In her enthusiasm, she plucks out his laptop from his hands, bends it over and shows him the recipes she adores. As she gushes over him, there comes a gentleman who in turn is floored on seeing Deepika. He timidly says that she has been seating on her seat, on which she gets up to go but forgets to return the HP laptop to Pratap. Reminded of her folly, she returns it him, and the film ends with a shot of the laptop making a full 360-degree rotation and finally the tagline: HP Bend the rules.
In the webisode, Mathew in a rapid fire monologue introduces himself as ?society??that big brother who is always watching every move of yours and raps you every time you step out of line and do something different. As he says, society could be anybody?the neighbours, the class teacher, the boss or the nosy aunty down the lane. The story then moves to young people who are non-conformists, and have the courage to bend the rules. The webisode ends with clips of these young people who are doing their own thing, undaunted by the criticisms that come their way.
Our Take
Today?s heroes aren?t glamorous celebrities but the innumerable ordinary people who live by their own rules?this is the essence of the new HP campaign. But it is the indirect connect between the brand and the countless stories of young people across the country doing things differently and letting their work speak for them that makes this campaign stand out. With young people in a hurry to taste success, it is technology that plays a big role in helping them getting there. Realising that passion is not enough, they use technology to surmount the impossible obstacles, aka bend the rules, to reach their goal. Thus information technology is the catalyst here, making the dreams of the millenial Indian possible. And thus comes HP into the picture.
Taking off from HP?s global campaign which saw surfer Ian Walsh using the X360 laptop to find and ride the biggest wave, and fans watching all the action unfold on YouTube, the Indian campaign takes a close look at young people who are using technology to chart out their own success stories. So the television commercial depicts a gentleman who dared to ditch his banking career to become a baker and find success, and thereby fans such as Deepika, with a little help from the online world.
?Millenial? is the watch word here. HP?s target audience is the 16-35 year-olds, and it is important to remain relevant to this target group. In a world where a new tech brand is born every day, HP could well be seen as an ?old? brand. With more and more youngsters switching to smartphones and tablets to access the net, laptops could easily be their last choice.
So to remain relevant to its young target audience, the smart move is to become part of their world. And what better way to do that than to become a part of their success stories, and become part of that youthful conversation. It is for this same reason that the digital arm of this multimedia campaign is so relevant. While the television commercial enhances curiosity about the brand, it is the webisode and the videos that actually engage the young viewer and allow the brand to strike up a meaningful conversation with her. The brand message that comes out loud and clear is that HP remains young, relevant and ready to make new rules. And that?s what makes it stands out.
