Sending tweets skyward: Balloons and HP's festive campaign
Do you have a wish you want to send out in to the Middle Eastern sky? HP is running an unusual festive marketing campaign that allows your New Years' resolution or wish to be found by someone across the globe.
HP is currently printing New Years wishes and resolutions through a scheme called TweetWisher. Stamped on helium balloons, HP is letting the messages go in the run up to New Years' Eve in Dubai at their headquarters.
The scheme offers a live feed -- 9 to 4pm, Dubai time -- Sunday to Thursday, where you can watch Tweeted wishes being released.
(Source: Flickr)
If you find a balloon, you can let HP know where it landed by entering its I.D number. The captured balloon's path will then be added to the website's map, to keep track of the Tweeted messages' progress.
Only Tweets submitted through TweetWisher can be considered for the marketing campaign. Users can also view found balloons and see who they came from, and what they Tweeted.
Hewlett-Packard is known for its marketing campaigns, and its past attempts to outshine other large corporations. The 'Everybody On' marketing ploy of 2011 was a multi-million dollar campaign designed to compete with Apple Inc.
The global advertising strategy HP employed was built around the tag line "everybody on", in an attempt to show that HP systems retain links between people and information no matter where they are. It seems that HP wishes to continue with this image through connecting New Years' resolutions via balloons -- albeit in a less formal manner.
"The HP TwitterWisher lets people spread good cheer and wishes and connect with people all over the world as we cross over into a new year together." Suad Merchant, a HP Middle East marketing manager commented.
At the time of writing, 59 balloons have been released.