THE CHALLENGE

Amongst their competitors, HP wasn’t seen as “cool”. Seeing as their main rival, Apple, is one of the biggest brands on the planet with ad spend and market share that dwarfed HP, they were up against something big. To take Apple on, we needed to find a way to talk about the HP premium laptop offering that would break the mold for HP Comms, be culturally relevant to spark interest, resonate with our audience, and most importantly, drive a change in behavior. But our audiences were Mac Users – not people who would care much for an HP ad. We had to earn their attention through a creative PR-led campaign that would breakthrough.

THE STRATEGY

The Australian premium-laptop market is worth $1.8bn, it’s dominated by Apple. But Apple had stopped listening to what customers want, relying on its own totalitarian-tech-vision and Mac loyalists to drive sales. But this behaviour was eroding loyalty and turning Mac Lovers into Mac Wobblers. We discovered that when people escape the Mac ecosystem, 23% of them turn to HP. HP wanted to show Australian Apple users they weren’t alone in their frustrations, that there’s a way to break free and that HP offered the function and freedom they crave.

THE EXECUTION

Mac Wobbler’s were in a fragile headspace. Their relationship with Apple started happy, filled with excitement and wonder, but it was built on broken promises, unwanted change, and gas-lighting around tiny innovation. So how do you help this audience break free of 20+ years of indoctrination and cult-like loyalty? Counselling of course. 

We showed our audience that their feelings were the same as those experienced in any relationship breakdown, especially one where one person outgrows the other. We created a fresh and cheeky content series where Dave, a ‘Mac Wobbler’ and his MacBook Pro go through couples counselling. They discussed all of his Apple frustrations (those expressed by Mac Wobblers across the internet) in a human way and showed how HP solves them. To really grab our audience’s attention, they needed to hear the truth about their relationship with Apple, from the voice of Apple… Siri herself, Susan Bennet.  

PR led the charge. Our earned media tour covered Australia’s biggest TV breakfast and radio shows, and news media. They loved the access to our surprising spokesperson in Siri, resulting in the content featuring throughout the coverage and hype for HP poking Apple in this disruptive way. ‘Siri’ went to HP HQ for the launch, driving staff pride in HP. We created the ‘Switch Squad’ to convince, test and drive product reviews amongst Mac-loving journalists.  

YouTube was used to effectively reach our audience. We used audience-based targeting, pre-rolls and search to ensure our content appeared in front of Mac users searching for new laptops, as well as Mac reviews, user videos and unboxings. In a media partnership with Pedestrian Group, we placed full wrap takeovers with HP advertising and content seeding, driving to the HP website. Finally, the campaign was timed to coincide with the latest Apple MacBook Pro release.

THE OUTCOME

Results exceeded targets,  

• 10.3 million Aussies reached through earned media  
• Australia’s biggest news outlets shared the campaign - branded content shown on breakfast TV, drivetime radio and news websites  
• 99% of coverage included key messages  
• 97% included clips from the branded content  

Most importantly though, we didn’t just get people talking – we changed minds: 

Increased Consideration Purchase Intent and perception amongst the target audience 

+11% lift in consideration to buy an HP laptop among Apple owners as a result of seeing the campaign 44% Mac Wobblers would consider switching to an HP as a result of the campaign 

+7.1% increase in perception of HP as an innovative brand 

+13.9% lift in HP seen as ‘new exciting designs that keep up with the times’ 

+13.2% ‘HP brings the latest technology in the field of privacy’

 Lastly, HP’s year-over-year growth rate rose 8%, while Apple’s fell 2.4% and JB Hi-Fi sold-out of HP Premium laptops during the campaign period.