HP and Intel launch digital drive for IT managers

The Asia-Pacific campaign targets IT managers through offline events, social media, direct marketing, viral videos, comics, mobile, online advertising, a dedicated site and audience research.

A dedicated interactive microsite has been created by Omnicom Media Group in conjunction with CBS Interactive, who is providing editorial content specific to IT, through its business technology site ZDNet.

Along with creative partner PMG, comical content was created for the site that brings to light the challenges faced by IT managers in a light-hearted way.

Four personalities representing the archetypes of office executives are showcased through stories in three languages including English, Chinese and Korean. The characters include Harper, the IT Manager who is the central character of the series; Danny, CEO of the company; Tim, the office bully and Jessika, the office beauty who both Harper and Tim hold a torch for.

The campaign will be rolled out across ZDNet's six markets which includes Southeast Asia, India, China, Australia, Taiwan and Korea.

"The creative execution puts the ‘faceless' function of IT at the forefront," said Dennis Mark, VP and general manager of marketing at Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard, Asia-Pacific and Japan. 

"The stories were adapted from real-life situations observed in the office environment. Each episode is light-hearted and the plots comprise of real-world IT issues, complications and solutions, where Harper the IT hero comes in to save the day," said Gavin Gibson, head of strategy at Omnicom Media Group Asia-Pacific.

"The campaign is also meant to open dialogues between CIOs, IT managers, and influencers to highlight the issues and challenges they face today," said Greg Fisher, director of advertising and marketing services for Intel in Asia-Pacific.