On the 26th of March, I was invited to Supperclub at Odeon Towers to check out the new laptop from HP, the HP Pavilion dv2 entertainment notebook pc. If you’ve been reading this blog you probably know I don’t usually talk a lot about the gadget itself but more on the communications efforts behind it, but this time I’ll say this is one gadget I really do like.
In terms of what a laptop is, no biggie, it’s a regular laptop. Moderate processor, 12.1 screen, no cd drive. But the big plus points for me: It’s 1.6kg and its’ price starts at $1,299. I mean seriously, I bought my current laptop for double that. I think in the current day and age where mobility is a huge factor, the HP Pavilion dv2 stands out. Why would I buy a $800-$900 netbook and squint my eyes out at a 8 to 10 inch screen, when I could shell out a few more hundred bucks and get a proper laptop? It’s quite a no brainer.
The other thing that’s awesome is a width. Check out the picture below and you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s less than one inch thin. Oh, and it has a HDMI port too. Another thing my current laptop doesn’t have.
HP Pavilion dv2
The event itself was one of the more intimate ones, and that’s a good thing. I make it a point these days to try not to attend events that are shared with mainstream media, simply because it’s just too difficult to get someone’s attention and a demo of the product. With this event, no problem. Within three minutes (literally) of stepping into the room, I had a drink and a product manager letting me have a hands-on go at the Pavilion dv2, while he was there to handle any questions. I think the premise behind this is simple: The more the blogger plays with the product, the more he/she can talk about it.
One thing I will say (and I’m being cheeky here) with regards to the communication effort. I wanted to say that not having a cd drive isn’t a dealbreaker these days because seriously, how often does one use it anyway? Then I realised all the press materials they handed out were on a cd. It would’ve been nice to emphasise that cds are really not that important anymore with a small thumbdrive, sd card, or just a downloadable link!
All in all, if I were in the market for a second, backup laptop for school or travel, this would be it. Sure, it doesn’t have the gaming power that my current laptop does, but there are some days when I’m heading out for just a three hour class or I want to sit somewhere and just blog (like I’m doing now), and on those days, a lighter, slimmer laptop like the dv2 would just be awesome.
More on the IDC Web2.0 Conference yesterday (attendees aside), there were some great insights that I’d love to talk about.
Prof. Michael brought up a point that I personally identify with. He says sometimes he has a guest in the class room and the guest is talking to the class, but the class is talking to each other via IM (or maybe Twitter), in other words, we’re having multiple levels of conversation.
Sarah will tell you they won’t even read this far down a blog post. Ian will tell you we have the computer on talking to 7 friends with MTV in the background and alternate-tabbing between games while stopping once in awhile to sms someone.
And that’s the truth.
Marketers are not going to get our full attention. And they certainly can’t demand it. They’re going to have to fight for it, not by interruption, but with darn compelling content. Does this mean we absorb less if we’re doing five things at the same time? Without empirical proof I’m going to say maybe. But I feel it also makes us aware of more. I can’t walk out of a movie these days without picking up at least one or two brands featured in the show, and more often than not the conversation becomes a “hey did you see that BMW insert?” after the movie.
Speaking as a Gen Y consumer myself, I love it when brands make the effort to connect, and seem like they’re genuine. (not some scammy thing). I’ll talk to you about Sony, about EA Games, about Bluehost and about HP because I know that they’re at least recognising the new presence of the new consumers and trying. They may not be fantastic at it, but it’s better than pretending we don’t exist or are a “fad”. (full disclosure: my office does PR work for HP)
Speaking of listening, I wanted to talk about this yesterday and am further prompted by this comment. Dear Yahoo!, I love that you sponsor stuff like the Web2.0 conference, but Jonathan is right. Does it make sense to sponsor it when people don’t get what you’re about? I love the “social” ymail and I love how it was presented in a non-intrusive way together with the goodie bags. But wouldn’t it be cooler to connect with say, 60 people who are in the space, in the know and can really appreciate what your product is about? Or give them a chance to try it and be bought over?
If you’re willing to listen to a proposition (not for me, but for the local Singaporean blogosphere), let’s start a conversation!
My first thoughts? “Damn I need to buy an Xbox 360 just to play The Force Unleashed”, and “Damn that HP Mini-note PC would be sweet to carry while I travel”.
More serious thoughts: I think it’s great that companies like Microsoft and HP would reach out to our local bloggers in the blogosphere. And on top of that, I think it’s great that they didn’t just throw out a wide net and see who gets caught in it, but they really made an effort to engage in targeted outreach to reach the people who would be excited about their products.
Today I also met up with people from The Digital Movement for an informal discussion with a couple of execs from Google to talk a little about feedback and collaboration.
I think this is definitely signaling change in Singapore. No longer are these big companies thinking: We will just produce the product and people will just buy them. They recognise that there is a conversation taking place whether they like it or not, whether they want to take part in it or not.
And frankly, I feel they ignore this conversation at their peril.
I’m sure there are people who’re going to say “Well, how many of these bloggers who saw the HP Mini-note PC will actually buy it? Or how many people who read a blog entry on it will buy it? What’s my conversion rate?” in other words: How is this going to affect my bottom line?
I think from a very practical point of view, that has to be a consideration. But is it the only consideration? So many management case studies point to hotels who give employees a certain amount of money to make right customer complaints as a way of generating goodwill. Is this truly any different?
If the result of this blogger outreach means that the next time someone is searching for the HP Mini-note PC as part of research about whether or not to buy it, and the top few results on Google are these pages and reviews and feedback from the bloggers who attended the outreach, I think the cost of holding that blogger outreach has paid for itself.
I have a lot of other thoughts on the whole blogger outreach strategy and who it works for and stuff like that, but I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the issue. So… comment away!
