HP's Comeback

Recently, Hewlett-Packard gained the title of the nation's number one PC maker worldwide. A first in almost three years while gaining a doubted victory against the 'ever popular' Dell. This, according to Gartner Research, who stated that "HP edged out Dell by a mere 110,000 units in the third quarter of 2006." Dell's worldwide market share has decreased to 16.1 percent from 16.5 percent in the same quarter. Dell's fall due to several incidents of consumer laptops catching on fire lead to constant recalls creating a drastic loss in profits resulting in a public relations fiasco. This marked the end to the popular PC maker: Dell. Remember those catchy ads: "Dude...you're gettin' a Dell?" Say Goodbye. HP saw this moment as an opportunity for success. They began by designing sleek, cutting edge notebooks and launching a major campaign to display their new image. The campaign is entitled "The Computer is Personal Again" which was launched in May of 2006 and uses "viral marketing and sophisticated visuals". The ads feature celebrities such as Pharrell, Mark Burnett, Mark Cuban, Jay-Z and Shawn White. Each celebrity shows how they make use of HP products in their career. I think that HP is very smart to step up and challenge Dell. I always say that companies should follow the times and HP did just that. Technology is advancing and the new campaign explains how innovations can help you in everday life. HP hits the nail right on the head with their new image and I applaud them. I like to see when a company makes something great out of bad news and this is the obvious way to go in business. Dell was the company that everyone thought would forever change the market by introducing "hip" products targeted to students and young professionals. America can learn a great lesson here: just because a company may seem 'perfect' on the outside does not mean that everything is flowing smoothly inside. Dell was under some bad management and was unable to respond correctly dirung a crisis. Instead they allowed breathing room for competition. HP was not going to wait for Dell to recover and continue business as usual. Welcome back HP!