HP places Veer ad on back of New York Times, actual size is still really small 110
Mon, 23 May 2011 2:53 pm EDT 
That above is the back of today’s New York Times newspaper, and yes, that’s a full-page ad chock full of attention-grabbing black ink for the AT&T HP Veer 4G. It’s really hard to get a handle on just how small the Veer is until you, well, handle it, but HP’s trying their hardest with this “actual size” ad. Smartly, HP doesn’t attempt to compare the Veer to any other phones, instead:
“Introducing the incredibly powerful, all-new HP Veer 4G. The nation’s smallest 4G smartphone. hp.com/veer.”
Judging by the simple and dark aesthetics of the ad, and the giant “Everybody On” tagline, it’s clear that this is an HP ad. We don’t know if that means HP is taking charge of the advertising campaign for the Veer (similar to how Apple handles the majority of iPhone advertising), or AT&T is too busy pumping out ads for the next Android megaphone, but it certainly seems as if HP’s promised advertising campaign for the Veer is starting to ramp up. Check out the full-size image after the break.
Thanks to Joe for the tip and pic!
[click to view full-size]
110 Comments
Great to see this. A tasteful, minimalist ad that plays up the Veer's big strengths without bashing any other products, and with as few words as possible. More like this, please.
lol, it's a phone, not a politician that HP is selling. Wow, calm down dude.
Whaaaaaaaaaaa
... ... ...
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wait, let me think... ...
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nope - still ridiculous.
LOL. I think the people in both those categories you mention use the same currency. Don't they? Wouldn't people from both camps count as "users"? Such a strange post.
Not strange at all. If his goal is to be so negative that anyone else posting something critical will get lumped in with him.
What a jerk you are!!!
I seriously consider you go see a psychiatrist. I've been noticing some of the stupid and loser like comments you've been posting on all the articles lately, but this one is way over the top.
What f****** connection does the ad has with politics?
seriously, you should stay off the web, and be at a mental institution.
@Rambo -- I work at a psychiatry company and yes, you might want to head in for a medical evaluation for a psychiatric diagnosis.
liberals are people too.
and the nyt readership > you.
Don't mistake Passion for Insanity.
And you sir, don't mistake insanity for passion.
Passion is used frequently in criminal courts to define the defendant as "temporal insanity"
At which time the defendant has or will receive "medical evaluation for a psychiatric diagnosis".
In this case it sounds like you just might have inadvertantly agreed with DD007/wewter.
Have no fear, knowing is the 1st step and knowing is half the battle! :D
I'm sure you have "insanity" and "passion" confused in your head.
that idiotic comment you made, has INSANE written all over it.
You sir are an idiot. Go away already.
Wow, that hurts. I would expect that from a lot of people here, but not from you bnceo?
You expect a lot of people to call you an idiot? Ever think maybe there's a reason?
While I will agree that the NYT's rapidly shrinking reader base is now made up almost entirely of people of a Leftist political persuasion, I fail to see what that has to do with HP selling phones.
Hp is kicking off an advertising campaign. A time-honored tradition in the advertising community is to kick off an American campaign with an ad in the NYT. So this is to be expected.
Now please ease up on the hyperbole a bit. you are making those of us on the conservative end of the spectrum look bad.
65% of Rambo's posts are negative. The other 35% are cynical. LOL
Booooooo
You strike me as a very interesting person.
I would be more than willing to get into a analytical/logical debate with you.
*squint* I know plenty of right-wingers in my office that read the NYT. Not sure where you're getting your information..
Not Liberal? Have you ever read a Paul Krugman Article? If that guy uses a Veer than I sure as he** don't want one!
if it wasn't for Obama we would have McCain in office (gag reflex gets activated). Be appreciative
Don't contribute to the troll.
you kinda suck right now.... Whats the deal with you buddy?
Why are we bashing our President? Political views have no place in this forum.
Your president, not our president.
ahh, now the truth comes out. He's not a USA citizen. However, you are welcome in our great country, where we value freedom of speech—no matter how insane it is.
Are you talking about me or Obama, because I am an American Citizen, not so sure about Obama though...
HAHA! Ok, your first post was rather pointless and out of place, but THIS made me laugh.
I dont think ur sure of anything..... Every time you open your mouth... You show how much of a fool you are..
ours..unless you live outside the US.... WTF
Then again, those liberal elitists love to waste money on trivial things, so would you market it to the average American who has a budget, or to the ones that bust budgets on a regular basis on whatever new fad/thing/favor pops up?
Please don't feed the trolls...
Rambo, you should be excited about this. Remember, its these sheep that made Apple what it is today (along with a solid product). So to me, the NYT IS PERFECT, if anyone actually reads it still.
Yeah I agree, is HP that stupid as to market the Veer in the back of one of the most selled newspapers not only in USA but in all the world? They have no sense of marketing!
[/ sarcasm]
Now THIS is an ad campaign I can get behind! Honestly, this may be the single best advertisement HP/Palm has put out in years.
It's clean, stylish, and to the point. HP Veer 4g: powerful, small, cool.
And it makes the Lady Gaga connection obvious now, with her Veer ads and her "Born This Way" album/single being everywhere in media and word of mouth.
big NYT ad
Lady Gaga
Manny P....whatshisname most popular athlete in the world right now, apparently ( "come out swinging" ? )
all good!
Now, HP, more of it, a few thousand top-seller apps, and don't let up until 2 months after Pre 3 and TouchPad launch & I say HP has...a chance
so long as my Pre- still works, here's to hoping!
Her entire album is available on AMAZON for 99 cents... Today only!
If Amazon & HP do have a connection through Rubinstein, sounds like something worth picking up.
This is good! I'm excited for the day that i look at precentral and there are too many ads for even PC to put on their front page. :P
Great to see that they have Best Buy listed s a sales location. The 3 in my area don't have them, don't have info on them and don't even have a dummy phone out. Oh, but the Infuse is everywhere. That's ok, I'll just go to the local AT&T stores. 5 of those, none had the Veer. Hard to increase mindshare when the product isn't in stores. Feels like the Pre Plus release all over again.
best buys in my area (sacramento) will be getting them this week. roseville said they had them in stock, received the marketing banners on sunday, and would have them on the floor by tuesday (5/24) -- my gf already bought a black one at a sac at&t retailer but we'll be returning that and going BB for the freeness.
Retail is definitely lagging. Two Best Buys in the Atlanta, GA area didn't have 'em either.
I get the message but would anyone really recommend the Veer as the best smartphone for Mr. Man-hands? Does he wear skinny jeans?
Born powerful? I thought their targets wanted small and cheap. Born cheap?
Born Pre-mature? Born too soon?
Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman?
C'mon, i'm just kidding. Actually a decent attempt at who HP is targeting.
Though I wish they'd included webOS in there somewhere. Anything that elevates the platform.
If he wears skinny jeans, he has the disposable income to spend on a Veer, and it will match him too.
Veer will bring back the parachute pants. At least one thing will fit in those little pockets.
A. Yes, this is great! Wonderful to see.
B. My goodness, why couldn't this have been done two weeks ago, prior to the actual release? (Don't give me that **** about "not enough supply in the pipeline"; if that were true, then you weren't ready to release on May 15, were you?)
Just about the worst thing that can happen in marketing is to create demand without supply... So it makes a lot of sense.
Unless you are Apple, of course.
I didn't think a phone launch could get any smaller than the Pre, then the Veer launched. Did they figure tiny phone, so tiny launch? It's as if they didn't even want anyone to see this phone.
Soft launch is what they want. They are just gauging things I presume. They are slowing revving up.
Like an old woman driver? That's awesome. It'd be nice if they drove the speed limit at least.
I think you missed the slogan, "Born Powerful."
Combine that with the Lady Gaga promotion mentioned a few days ago here: http://www.precentral.net/hp-wraps-new-york-subway-car-veer-and-lady-gaga-1
Note that the album Born This Way is in stores today.
This doesn't look like an "old woman driver" campaign. This looks like a campaign is heading in the direction to trump anything Apple has done (at least that I can think of).
I'm sorry but I'm not that familiar with her music other than a few old songs. To be honest, she looks almost as bizarre as the lady in the Palm ads. I'm sure Gaga is more popular though and has her share of fans.
IMO, the star is webOS. There's few products out there that don't really need the celeb help. This is one of them.
When you say this will trump anything Apple has done, it's just off the mark. That is, if you really know marketing. Keep in mind, this is just a very small part of it.
You don't have to be familiar with Gaga's music to know her popularity. I mean she was featured on Glee and American Idol just a few weeks apart. This past weekend she was on SNL. She has the most followers on Twitter, which is huge. To put it in perspective it is almost double that of Oprah.
I meant in terms of a marketing campaign. I was trying to think of another celebrity with the popularity of Lady Gaga that has been featured in an Apple advertisement. I came up empty.
Perhaps someone else can think of someone where my memory is failing me?
Unfortunately i have to endure American Idol sometimes. Part of being married i guess.
But I think Apple gets their share of the star power by getting its Itunes plastered all over that show.
For Apple, they don't want or need a celeb. It's products are the mega icons capable of inducing lines down streets at product launches. But imagine for a minute, Apple wanted to select a star to do this. I've no doubt they could get who they want just about.
Google relied on carriers and manufacturers to push Android. Apple used its superior consumer marketing. HP is going to have to do a bit of both.
I look at it as general consumer, education, enterprise. HP will probably focus hard on all 3 as Apple and Google are more general consumer that's trickling out to the latter two. This should be HP's strength or something they need to turn into one.
You're probably not in the target group.
Whoa, whoa, whoa... you are jumping the gun here. I only said, "This looks like a campaign is heading in the direction..."
Clearly it's a long way off from anything comparing to Apple at this point. There isn't even really an official connection between Lady Gaga and the Veer yet. At least there's no press release (that I've seen) that she's been signed to promote the product.
My point was that a campaign with Lady Gaga involved is more star power than anything I've seen with Apple. And I don't think it's close.
It wasn't a comment or a comparison of types of advertising or number of advertisements, which is clearly not something that is known at this stage.
I'd rather see HP just using its strengths. http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/prodserv/calculator.html Take HP calculators. Make a webOS one.
Flood the market with webOS devices and the OS will take off.
These are things HP can do that Google and Apple would be hard pressed to do or not even care about. Sure you can run an iOS app, but students probably aren't allowed to use certain iOS devices like phones.
KB's running webOS for the PC. webOS mice. WebOS universal remotes. WebOS radios. Yep, and printers too. There's probably many i'm not thinking of.
Even if the smartphones aren't selling like apples, you keep bombarding the market with webOS devices. The only priority is getting webOS established.
If this is HP's vision, then consumers (webOS fans) need to stop being influenced by Apple so much and not bring Apple like expectations to everything HP does. Apple's approach is building upon layers slowly over time, a solid approach but not the only approach. HP would want to bombard the market with various products and use scale...not really having the time to try to get iphone like branding for each.
They're waiting for the product to ripen. The rest of the world needs to catch up to it's advanced abilities.
im glad they didnt use derek's hands..
They need to get the girl from Seinfeld with the "man hands". That phone would look like a postage stamp.
Hehe, I love the actual size. I think it's a nice ad.
Actually....I love the ad. I wish they would define "Everybody On", because there's no context to it now and when you go to HP.com, the messaging is nowhere to be seen...anywhere. Bad way to build a brand. (I work in marketing for one of the world's largest retailers. NO WAY would we send out print messaging next to our logo that isn't supported with ad buys on TV, radio, and on the front page of our site)
Aside from that, it's attention-grabbing and you have to embrace the size if you're going to make a phone like this.
genius, the guys that ran the ad for HP work in marketing too, for a technology company that sells more tech than almost any other in the world. $130 billion a year. they should probably stop doing what they're doing and check in with you for advice.
Yeah, and the people who marketed the Pre and Pixi handled plenty of campaigns too. Sure glad that ensured a fantastic brand being created for WebOS to pull developers, customers, and carriers in on. Yeaaahhhhh
The worst smartphones, commercials, operating systems, and anything else you can think of on the market right now were created by experienced people with great intentions working for multimillion dollar companies. That meant exactly "jack" and "squat".
You can't create a brand without defining it. Period. And I'm pretty sure hp.com will get way more views than that newspaper article, and cost 100 percent less to maintain. But is there ANY supporting collateral for the Veer there? Nope. Even though there's a slider to allow up to NINE different promotions/products to be spotlighted, the Veer and WebOS occupy NONE of those positions. That's just dumb. Nothing against HP...just calling a spade a spade.
The Veer microsite is almost HIDDEN to anybody not looking at that print ad for the URL.
Response to Cobrakon below: Thanks for confirming that someone looking for a smartphone on HP's website could find it. Shame that this ad and campaign is to promote the Veer to people NOT already looking for a smartphone on HP's website.
Uh, when you click on "Shop for products" (which you know, buyers would click on) and then "Smartphones" (or search "smartphones") you get this page...
http://www.shopping.hp.com/can/handheld/iPAQ/1/storefronts
OOOOH Lookie!! The Veer, and TouchPad, and Othert WebOS phones!! Wooowie!!
/smh
OWNED... yeah i'm not even close to being in anything like marketing and i thought it was a bit off. you don't have to be a marketer these days to know a good add from a bad one. i mean, we see thousands of adds a week... a good start though.
Actually -- all they should have done was throw the URL in the ad...
http://www.hp.com/everybodyon
It's even more schizo. If you go to the Veer site, there's no "Everybody On" branding, so the customer has no idea what the one has to do with the other. If you click the HP icon from the Veer page, it takes you to a completely different landing page than HP.com. BTW, on NEITHER main landing page is there any prominent mention of WebOS, Veer, or Everybody On.
There's no followthrough.
No call to action.
No continuity. Just not well-done at all.
Still like the newspaper ad. HATE the followup. My bosses would reassign me if I turned in a microsite/print campaign that disjointed.
I love that at this site - and THIS SITE ONLY - I can be downranked for wanting HP to promote this OS and the products MORE.
That's what constitutes negativity around here.
You upset the fanboys. They're easy to upset.
that hand looks like a dwarf's hand or a kid's hand
"Everybody On" meaning everyone's connected threw HP, WebOs and the "cloud". You are always connected ("on"). Whether it be device to device, from phone, PC, Tablet, Printer and our future toasters! :-P and/or the cloud. Everyone who owns a HP product will be "On". HP Skynet is here and will take over the world in the coming months...
That's how I perceived it anyway.
I take it to mean HP is cool like the rest. In a world where everyone is online or connected, HP is as well. Relevant.
It's meant to elevate the image of HP..to feel good about HP, not sell any specific line.
I was out in the Santa Clara, CA area yesterday at my local Sprint store, and decided to stop by the AT&T store next door. They ACTUALLY HAD A VEER ON DISPLAY!!..
Got to play with it, and I have to say, it's definitely an underrated LITTLE LITTLE phone. Honestly, if they started marketing this thing right, it could sell quite a bit. This is a good start...
OMG A PRINT AD! UNPOSSIBLE!
I'm glad to see them ramping it up! It became quickly apparent that this launch was going to take some time, and I'm ok with that. The fact that they weren't ready on the 15th hurt no one except a few here. The rest of the world was blissfully unaware!
Now that the advertising is starting to trickle out, I would sure like to see some working phones in the stores, not to mention some inventory!If someone is motivated by this ad, where do they go to see the phone? Perhaps the NY area has inventory, but there isn't any in Ohio.
But it sure is nice to see some positive moves and some excitement.
Agree 100%. Everyone here who "wants moar now!!11!!" took issue with the soft launch, but most people who are going to buy it won't care that it was a soft launch.
Or know it was a soft launch. Most people don't even know what that means.
They also could careless if the phone launched 8 days ago and this is the first ad they've seen.
Isn't the issue with people who might buy it if they knew about it rather than selling to those who already want it? True, a consumer won't really care if it was a soft launch. However the issue is that most potencial consumers won't even know about the product if something doesn't change.
Things are changing, albeit slowly. I expect advertising to ramp up for both the Touchpad and Veer when the Touchpad launches. The Veer is a perfect companion device, and quite capable standalone, and I hope they will use that as a selling point.
Seeing how this is out the same day as Gaga it makes sense. Now lets be the on air ads on and pump this puppy.
Great to see that HP is actually doing something to ad their webos products. Although I hate to say they will need a massive amount of marketing for all their webos products to be competitive.
Guess what HP its a cycle. Advertising bring customers, customers bring developers, developers bring apps, and apps HELP bring customers. So whats my point? HP advertise and dont let up until everyone realizes how great WebOs is!!!!!!
Nice ad. Very well designed and eye-catching, although the phone looks a little awkward in a man's hand like that. I don't know why...it just does.
I'm sure the "soft launch" that we all griped about was simply due to the fact that no products were in stores. Plus, I'm sure that HP really wants to see the TOuchPad out so they can market the two devices together.
Lady Gaga? I don't see any upside to that relationship. At least not in my middle-of-America world. She does attract a ton of attention -- to herself, that is. I doubt that she can bring sales to a mobile device. I could be wrong!
Lady Gaga is a promotion machine. If her team is getting decent $$$ to promote this, I have no doubt it'll creep into the public's awareness.
i totally don't get Lady Gaga. i'm not exactly listening to that stuff either but like her and Beiber came from nowhere in my mind. They are like those disney stars that i've never heard of an all of a sudden they are on TMZ.
Not to mention Lady Gaga is ugly as F*** and a Madonna rip-off.
I don't like Lady Gaga, but I recognize her extreme popularity. Popular celebrities promoting webOS would be an EXTREMELY GOOD THING.
MaPenn, I think you are very wrong. Her endorsement would bring tons of sales.
I reserve my right to be wrong on this! :)
She is definitely the "big guns" for a celebrity endorsement. It will be interesting to see how HP plays the tie-in.
She's done lots of endorsements for lots of companies. Haven't seen her catapault one to sales nirvana yet. I understand HP wants to get the biggest names they can, but this particular one has been passed around advertising town a bit too much (e.g. Monster headphones, Target, Google Chrome OS).
I stopped by the nearby AT&T store this weekend (I felt kinda dirty, like I was cheating on my carrier). They didn't have a VEER out, but the lady went and brought one out that wasn't activated. She said it should be activated after today. I have to say, I knew it would be small, but I didn't know, THAT small. I have a tiny tiny candy bar feature phone that has served me well for 4 years now (so much better than all those fat flip-phones). The VEER was BARELY thicker, and 3/4 as long in closed mode. I will definitely go back to look and play some more. Though, I don't think I could convert to... "them." The slider, the keyboard, everything, was impressive. Gives me great hopes for Pre3.
This ad is bullpucky! Where's the creepy, paste-colored, big-foreheaded female, sitting on a rock while her last airbender-styled minions dance around her in synchronized weirdness?! Is that Tamara Hope's manly hand holding the Veer?! She sure has let herself go, judging by the look of those hairy sausage-shaped fingers...
WHO KILLED MY AWESOME THERAD????????? This is an outrage! Derek you are better than that! We are both from Ohio. I am sick! i had a -52 going and COUNTING!
So angry right now. Derek, I demand an explanation!
It was distracting from all the other conversation and completely off-topic. There's your explanation.
You Rule Southern Ohio, I rule Norther Ohio, Together we can dominate the Ohio Faction of PreCentral. Instead you choose to destroy me?
I had a -52 going. You may never in your life see something that great again. I was going to give you the carrier scoop for Pre3 but now I will give it to PalmInfoCenter.com. My Indians Swept your Reds, maybe that is what angers you.
Rambo, You are delusional, except for the part about the Indians. GO TRIBE!
Rambo, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. You're a 10 on my pessimistic scornful scale. But, I'll minus 4 from it, because you are an Indians' fan. Go Tribes!!!
I'm actually kind of surprised they chose to kill it. Your "therad" is the kind of pageview-generating stuff they love. I guess some things are too controversial for PC.
Can someone explain the meaning of the "Everybody On" tagline? I don't think I fully understand the meaning or thought process behind it.
It's short for "everybody on a sinking ship". They just shortened it to "Everybody On" so it would fit on their business cards.
not exactly very positive. I'm gonna guess they had something else in mind.
Gotta admit that was pretty funny. Cue the thumbs downs!
Everybodys On!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzelK7G4ZYE
Hopefully it makes more sense to some of you now!
Skynets early beginings! :-P
Loving the phrase "born powerful"
Gives a refresh to webOS. Makes it feel like webOS is born again. Rise from the ashes webOS. Just like solid state hard drives... soon you'll be the state of the art
Still, that could've been reserved for something better.
With the Veer, you think Failed Abortion.
My gosh, why is HP spending all that money on advertising advice, when all they would have to do is read the comments here and they would know exactly what to do! Amazing how negative this board is.
Everybodys On!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzelK7G4ZYE
Hopefully it makes more sense to some of you now!
Skynets early beginings! :-P