Why Gen Y buys into HP's 'Declare Yourself'
Hewlett-Packard's new back-to-school campaign, dubbed Declare Yourself with HP, isn't your typical laptop sales promotion. It probably could be used instead as a case study of how members of Generation Y tend to gravitate toward products that inflate their egos.
The online campaign, which rolled out this week in partnership with Viacom's MTV Networks, enables users to "declare" their goals with one-line summaries. HP is "hoping that this promotion will help (students) set obtainable goals that will help further personal growth."
Obtainable goals, eh? Let's check out some of the goals my generation has declared: "I will meet the Jonas Brothers," "I will eat more cheese," and "I will be on the red carpet."
Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that.
(Credit: Screenshot by Sharon Vaknin/CNET)With its large presence on the Internet, Generation Y has changed the way consumer companies like HP market their products. Even domain names have seen a change: YouTube, MySpace. Apple, too, has caught on to Gen Y's "me, me, me" trait, naming its digital-music player the iPod and rebranding its .Mac service MobileMe.
But back to the HP campaign. After users publish their goal, they can browse through the declarations of others and give them a thumbs-up approval rating.
Sound familiar? The concept of posting one's thoughts and receiving positive feedback isn't anything new. The Facebook feed works in a very similar way, giving users the option to show that they "like" their friends' status updates.
To be fair, let's cut the Gen Ys some slack--there are many declarations on the HP site that relate to volunteering, caring for others, and being a better person. However, it's the declarations like "I will destroy the competition" and "I will become famous before 2012" that leave me feeling pessimistic about the millennials' future.
Sharon Vaknin is the CNET Labs' go-to intern. When she's not testing MP3 players, blogging, or making the lab look presentable, she can be found playing computer games. Sharon formerly worked for Best Buy and is currently studying journalism at San Francisco State University. E-mail Sharon. 
"I will convince my Dad to buy me a MacBook Pro"
Sorry HP, but you're just not an aspirational brand.
It was meant to be funny. But seriously, can you really get excited about an HP? No one of those fancy Toshiba's with the flames on the lid, yeah. Or an Alienware, yeah. And yeah an Apple MacBook Pro with the spiffy unibody and light-up keyboard. Honestly I don't care if HP do sell more systems. Anyway HP's support is a sick joke (I had an HP Unix box and their support staff admitted they'd not been trained on it - HP had borked the factory install of SuSE, and had no clue how to fix it). That's excitement I don't need.
@markosph
Point is an HP is just like everything else, a Mac is different - do you really aspire to be like everyone else? I'm not saying that an HP is necessarily the wrong choice, but it's hardly going to get the pulse racing is it? I'm glad you're pleased with your HP, that's great - but honestly if you cover the badge on an HP can you tell it from a Dell, or and Acer, or any of the other brands? How can anyone get excited about (and aspire to) that? I was also trying to be funny - let's face it, it's a pretty stupid way to sell computers!
Just wait till you face an issue with the laptop and have to send out for repairs...it will take seconds to convert that "love" to "hate". with the nightmare i faced to get my HP to be "reparied", I thought i was probably an exception case, but then i met so many people using Hp with similar experiences, that i figured that people like you who still dont have any problems are actually the exceptions...i hope it stays like that for you.......for me, i'm not buying another HP product in my lifetime.
"Enjoy your purchase"... yes shoes are magnificently enjoyable, laptops get the adrenaline flowing. Cmon, what a sad bunch we are.
Don't you think if you're spending your own money on something like a computer, you ought to enjoy it? Didn't there ought to be a tinge of excitement when you get it? I mean really, something that can edit video (fun), play music (fun), video chat over the Internet (fun), that's got to be something worth a little bit of excitement? Sure most of the time you'll actually use it for email, word-processing and other less than scintillating activities - but does that really mean you can't enjoy it a bit? I actually quite like it when I can use the machine to get work done faster and I have some extra leisure time - and finishing work early ALWAYS makes my pulse quicken ;-)
not all the time for example if two computers are exactly the same except one computer has an hdmi output and the other doesn't the one with the hdmi output is going to be more functional, and no amount of advertising will change that.
but of course if the user has no clue how to use any of the functions then the computers are on equal ground
I just use the HP for basic things, my desktop is for my photography I wasn't calling you non functional just that I see alot of quad core computers just being used for email and browsing... such a waste if you ask me..
But Apple provide video editing software, DVD creation software, even music creation software IN THE BOX - there is no excuse for not at least dabbling with them. (Who doesn't have anything in their life they don't want to celebrate in film, even if it's only your dog?!)
Mac users get a lot of encouragement from Apple to do a little more with their machines.
I think you're reaching here for something to prove your opinion on HP. YouTube is a place for YOUR videos... MySpace is an individual's own "space"/place on the web -- sure it's personal. Everyone would like to have a web presence of some sort to post pictures and let others know what they're up to. That's not limited to Gen Ys. Facebook is probably more popular now than MySpace but you didn't mention it because it didn't have the name that would support your agenda.
Apple's in started out as in "Internet" (as was pointed out) and being a popular term, they added it to many other products, whether they were internet-related or not. I don't think it had a thing to with boosting the ego. It actually, in many instances of theirs, would've made more sense using "my" instead of "i" -- myPhotos, myTunes, myMovie, myDVD because the digital files in question are personal -- not an ego boost... just sharing an already known association.
Meeting a famous act? Every star, every day meets dozens of people and they all say the same thing "I'm your #1 fan. I've always wanted to meet you." And these are not all Gen Ys. All ages are meeting famous people that they admire. I think it's neat. I've played frisbee (no lie) with Darryl Hanna and John F. Kennedy Jr. I had always admired them and when I met them in NYC Central park and was invited to play, I was bowled over, shocked and grateful. They were just normal people. I'll never forget it. The Jonas Brothers might not mean anything to most adults but their important to kids just like our pop/rock stars are to us. It's not lame to want to meet your inspirations. These are clean cut kids that have chosen abstinence and to have a relationship with a higher power. That's important in my opinion for kids to have that type of role model at such a "high level" of popularity.
Also...
Honestly, I think stuff like "I will become someone famous" is now a dream that all kids can have and not feel like an idiot for wanting. When I was young and wished to be a rock star, I never said so because it was a "stupid idea". Every success story generally starts off "I was determined to be famous no matter WHO thought it was a crazy dream". I think it raises the ceiling of what kids believe is possible. What's bad about that? If you feel that any goal is possible, then you're liable to go a long way.
Better than just thinking to just follow the others.
As for beating the competition and wanting to become famous, I think, if the person who posted it really meant it, that this is some good motivation.
And on the excitement of HP computers, I find them lacking. As was stated above, if you were to cover up the logo of an HP computer, you couldn't tell who made it. They need to somehow differentiate themselves from the competition, but not copy the competition because people will think HP is pathetic. One think that can help is getting rid of those stupid stickers on their computers. No one want to see an Intel, AMD, Nvidia, or Windows sticker. The only reason they are there for is because HP is paid to stick them there. What else could they do? I don't know, I'm not a marketer in PSG.
- by Jadefa August 24, 2009 3:48 PM PDT
- While the HP slogan is incredibly tacky it is still amazing to observe how many "metros" will rush out and buy an Apple in their quest for non-conformity. Talk about slaves to a label.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by Jeremy Chappell August 25, 2009 9:58 AM PDT
- Do you even know what you're talking about? You think everyone who bought a Mac did so to "stand out"? You're kidding right? What about if I have an iMac? Nobody ever sees it, why did I buy that?
- Like this
-
(24 Comments)If only metros could see themselves from the perspective of this "bass ackwards" hick...It's comical watching them fiercely lashing out to declare their individuality, screaming their displeasure with labels and brand names while sipping Ethiopian coffee at Starbucks, thinking they're bucking all the trends while actually driving them, desperately searching for a "cause" while staying "obedient" to the socially engineered menu, which options don't stretch far beyond no blood for oil, Darfur or marine biology. I mean how many more marine biologists do we need?!!! They fit right into the slavish template prepared for them by corporate marketing departments and the "community organizers" they follow. From their smog choked concrete towers and steel beaches they preach the religion of earth worship and boldly rage at news cameras with the intent of "shocking" grandma and all the while providing middle America with comic relief.
The true non-conformists, the silent majority reverently and shamelessly practice the ever increasingly unpopular traditions of God, Family & Country...and yes know a bit more about tech than people think.
I think you'll find you know a lot less than you might think, I wanted a Unix system that was also simple for my partner to use. I don't own anything made of hemp, shock anyone's grandma or recognise any of your insulting stereotypes in Mac users.
Now grow up.