• by Aaron Baar , February 9, 2011

It's not that the computer's not personal; it's that it's more central. Five years after declaring the computer was "personal again" in an advertising campaign, HP is altering its strategy to acknowledge the central place that computers (and computing devices) play in consumers' daily lives. The new campaign, which breaks Wednesday, now uses the tagline "Everybody On."

"The center of the world isn't the PC [anymore], it's the user," Page Murray, vice president of integrated marketing for HP's Personal Systems Group, tells Marketing Daily. "The shift went from getting on and getting connected to you being the center and staying connected. That's a very different way of interacting with a company."

The campaign begins this week with an overarching television spot set to the well-known bass riff from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side." A voiceover (not Reed) offers retooled lyrics: "Everybody touch. Everybody move. Everybody see. Everybody groove," it begins. "Everybody search. Everybody tweet. Everybody social. Everybody meet." Meanwhile, images and video show people using different HP products or services such as printing from their phones or interacting via computer. "Everybody nimble. Everybody bond. Everybody instant. Everybody on," concludes the voiceover.

"Everybody is an invitation to the rest of the world to come join us," Murray says. "The anthem spot we believe shows that. We're talking about people doing things that matter to them."

The campaign is fueled by the real-world evolution to an always-connected society, where people routinely check their e-mail from phones, store data in the cloud and use multiple devices to drive their passions, Murray says. "These devices are no longer about computing," he says. "It's really about personal passions and what people want to do."

Accordingly, the new campaign will also use videos of notable people speaking about their passions and how technology has helped them achieve their goals, Murray says. One spot, to air on the Grammy Awards, features Alicia Keys talking about music and her New York upbringing. That spot acknowledges the "Beats" technology in HP computers, which allows for more realistic music playback.

"We're going to have exciting, wonderful television that will tell this story," Murray says. "The major pillars will have notable stars that can speak from a position of authority."

Other videos addressing different passions will include Aria Finger (COO of DoSomething.org), Indy car driver and team owner Gil deFerran and fashion designer Mondo Guerra. Longer versions and deeper explorations of those topics will be housed on a dedicated microsite for HP. That digital hub will be a major centerpiece of HP's campaign.

"Digital hub is a repository related to people's personal passions," Murray says. "This hub is designed to be a back-and-forth engagement. Every passion has a profession. These are designed to give people a platform to talk about their personal passions and the linkage beyond technology."