HP India, the leading provider of printers, multiform computers and more, wanted The PRactice to help urban households in India realize the varied benefits of a home printer. The company believed that families hadn’t fully explored the use of a personal printer at home. They wanted a campaign that made people realise the benefits of having a personal printer at home.
Our research indicated that the market for home printers in India was mostly untapped, especially when it came to families with young children. Further, Indian schools with their emphasis on structured learning, did not do full justice to creative writing as a subject. Recognizing that a successful campaign would have to revolve around the children if it were to make an impact on the parents, the team conceptualized the Write&Read program. The program was designed to help young children awaken their inner writer and give wings to their creativity via the printed word. The families would see the possibilities of home printers in action, and all this was linked to a social cause that HP believed in and supported.
In partnership with Katha, an education not for profit organisation for underprivileged children, our team conducted a series of writing workshops and contests for school children across 6 cities. Lyricist Prasoon Joshi was brought on-board to provide creative mentorship to the children during the activities. A website was launched to provide program information, workshop registration and updates. Posters were circulated to schools across the selected cities to encourage participation. The media was invited to certain segments of the workshop to observe the activities. Each workshop included printer demonstrations and related craft activities.
Against this setting which included more than 1500 children, parents, educators and artists, HP home printers were set up strategically to highlight their abilities as helpful tools in the creative process. In particular, the wide range of home applications were highlighted, and all through, the message about HP’s commitment to creativity and children’s causes came out loud and clear.
Additionally, we executed a media outreach plan to reach a larger online community with the message centred around creativity and change. The media coverage resulted in more than 57 million impressions. We reached approximately 538,255 people through the online campaign and more than 10,000 key stakeholders directly through the workshops.
The winning entries from the writing contest were published in a beautifully bound and illustrated book titled By Us For Us printed, of course, on HP printers! Every copy of the first printing sold out within 4 months and a reprint is in the works. All proceeds from the book sales were donated to Katha, our non-profit partner.
The campaign was considered an all-round success. 186 stories were featured in prominent dailies with 57 million impressions. 8 events across 6 cities in 5 months resulted in direct outreach to more than 10,000 people and a further 1000 via direct mailer. 3600 visitors spent time on the website created for the campaign and 200 of them left comments. The total digital outreach was 5,38,255.
HP was very pleased with the Write&Read campaign which created a direct association between HP printers and creative learning. The return on investment of the program wasn’t just financial but also reaped strong goodwill and increased brand equity since the program also had a strong element of social enterprise. The program conceptualized by The PRactice team in India made waves across the entire company.
The crowning glory for us was that this campaign led The PRactice to become the first Indian firm to get shortlisted for Cannes Lions in 2012 in the category, Integrated communications led by Public Relations.
