Murphy's Law

Background

The aim of the campaign was to build awareness of HP’s professional range of products.

Idea

Solutions Integrated Marketing decided to use the idea of Murphy’s Law (‘what can go wrong, will’) to introduce HP’s products as heroes who defy all odds (even Murphy’s Law) and work wonders under any circumstances. The campaign started with teaser mailers followed by the main mailer. All were sent over a period of five days to IT decision makers across 10,000 small to medium sized businesses.

The first teaser read, ‘Do not open this envelope’. The card inside reinforced the first of Murphy’s Laws by stating, ‘One always does what one is asked not to do’. In the second teaser, the card was stuck inside with double-sided tape, making it very difficult to pull it out, and resulting in the recipient having to tear open the envelope in frustration. (Actually, one could just lift the card slightly to pull it out of the envelope). Inside was the simple statement – ‘the simplest things take the longest time’. The third teaser had a trick envelope, where the top flap was sealed the normal way but the bottom had a slit in it, from which anyone could pull the card out effortlessly. (One never looks for this option, when ripping an envelope open). Once more the card inside established another of Murphy’s Laws: ‘When looking for the easiest way, one misses the obvious one’. The main mailer read, ‘Your best precautions are no match to Murphy’. Inside the card challenged the recipient to ‘Now beat him’. This was followed by a description of all the product features in a light-hearted and non-techy manner, in line with the style and tone of the campaign.

Results

Approximately 45% of recipients either responded by calling the number on the pack or visited the product web page as a result of the campaign follow up call.

Target Audience

IT Decision Makers - SMB & Enterprise segments

Size

10,000 different SMBs