HP India’s top marketer on working with Yashaswini Dayama and Ahsaas Channa to reach Gen Z
The Drum sits down with Prashant Jain, chief marketing officer of HP India, who walks us through the tech company’s plans for marketing its new range of laptops to Gen Z.
With schools and colleges about to reopen, HP India is getting ready to go to market with its feature-packed range of Pavilion laptops.
Prashant Jain, the CMO of HP India, explains to The Drum: “Customer expectations from the category have gone through a change with PCs becoming essential to learning, entertainment and creation.” He says the brand is working towards meeting some of these unvoiced needs through thoughtful innovations.
Its all-new HP Pavilion laptops have got some category-first features such as EyeSafe certified display, QuickDrop and enhanced video calling, catering to the evolving demands of its next-gen customers.
Gen Z are the chief information officers of their homes, says Jain, adding that they are the key influencers and decision-makers when it comes to any technology purchase. It is imperative, therefore, that brands connect with them and deploy their influence while helping them make an informed choice, he says.
The HP brand campaign has been conceptualized by Lowe Lintas Delhi to appeal to the younger segment who are returning to their schools and colleges after the pandemic.
It has been created with an ambition to help customers discover the features of the HP Pavilion range. Three films each highlight a unique feature in a fun manner – be it HP’s QuickDrop feature that saves the protagonist from the warden, the enhanced video calling feature that helps her do the photoshoot, or its eye-safe certified display.
Features like Eyesafe certified display and superior video clarity are category-first features, says Jain, while others like HP QuickDrop and Alexa are features that are essential to customers for whom creation and entertainment have become integral to everyday life.
In an interesting casting, the multi-film campaign features two popular social media celebrities – Yashaswini Dayama and Ahsaas Channa – who have been chosen for their appeal to the target audience.
Jain says: “Yashaswini and Ahsaas personify Gen Z and brand HP in many ways – they are authentic performers who have their distinctive style and hence connect with Gen Z on a personal level.”
He believes that OTT/web series stars will “become more and more mainstream as access to content gets democratized and, in the process, marketers will be able to deliver fresh content, nuanced narratives and hence be able to differentiate the brand story”.