HP wraps a New York subway car with the Veer and Lady Gaga 37
Wed, 18 May 2011 8:17 pm EDT 
It’s part promotion for Lady Gaga’s upcoming album Born This Way, part ramping up HP’s all-encompassing “Everybody On”, and part stealth advertising for the HP Veer. It’s the fine art of subway wrapping, and HP’s taking on New York City’s subways with sheets of black vinyl. Snapped by PreCentral reader cderekg72, the wrap job pulls together Ms. Gaga, the Veer, and the Everybody On tagline, but it’s that bright red seat wrap that really gets the attention – alas, it’s for Gaga’s album. In fact, details on the Veer are pretty nonexistent in this ad: the Veer is there, on the door, and it’s not really saying much of anything.
Lady Gaga’s association with HP and the Veer could potentially be a good thing (just as we believe Manny Pacquiao will serve as a good association). The singer is one of the most powerful pop sensations on the planet right now, and has proven to be extremely adept at social marketing. In fact, she just passed ten million followers on Twitter and has also coupled up with Facebook gaming time sink Farmville to preview tracks from her new album. Gaga has also partnered with Best Buy, who will be giving away copies of Born This Way with any mobile phone purchased between May 22 and May 28. The 22nd is also the day the AT&T Veer is scheduled for availability in Best Buy stores. Coincidence, or clever marketing engineering by HP, Lady Gaga, and the Illuminati behind Farmville?
Update: As TeckieGirl40 has pointed out in the comments of this very blog post, Lady Gaga giving the Veer some unintentional love on her own 10-million-strong Twitter account. Sure, her idea was to show off the multi-faceted campaign she's waging for Born This Way, but we can't help but smile that the Veer made it into the collage. Now all we need is for her to get snapped in public with a Veer. HP, go slip one into her purse or meat dress or something.
37 Comments
do you realize how many people are see this? she is tweeting this too. She has 10 million followers...this is the best advertising EVER!!!
agreed
+1
where does the ad say veer?
that's the 42nd street Shuttle train btw. it goes between times sq and grand central.
At least it's something
I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga, but if she can sell webOS, it beats the **** out of the current At&t and Verizon sales reps.
Déjà vu!
It's still a creepy lady selling a Palm product...
Oi!
M.
Wouldn't you add a tagline if you were HP? Maybe an enticing "the world's smallest, smartest phone" or something? What's wrong eith the HP marketing division?
I guess it just doesn't say much with only a picture. This could be a new TV for all anyone knows.
strange. my comment was flagged as spam before i posted it. that's weird
regardless, other then not wanting to be associated with lady gaga i think it's fine. lots will see it. Veer needs to be much more prominent though.
no idea why but my comment is deleted as spam again. whatever. but i made a post it's just getting deleted. go figure
Well, Lady Gaga, ten million tweets, and subway wraping or not, it better be something that people really *want*, or they'll get a mighty rush of sales that then will quickly fade to a fizzle.
People have repeatedly blamed Palm's bad ads (strange lady who says "My Pre can read my mind") for the poor performance of the original Pre; bottom line is, everyone, that in despite the power of marketing skill in this day and time, word of mouth from whole bunches of satisfied customers is still the best advertising.
Actually they got it right this time. If there's a market for the Veer, it's the Chix w/**** and the born this way crowd. Kudos for hitting their market.
Whoa there! HP is now selling munchkin commando armies commanded by the Illuminati!? Sign me up for one of them on May 22nd!
Check out this first comment from here twitpic at http://twitpic.com/4zfs0n
looking good
How long until we see that famous video of Gaga's junk falling out, changed to show the Veer poking out? Now that would be some viral marketing.
I've been skeptical of the previous marketing forays thus far in the HP launch but this is a great move. Totally jives with what the target market is looking to be. People will wander in to a Best Buy, see the Veer for free and - voila.
And if she starts tweeting with a new proprietary webOS Twitter app...look out.
Oh dear Lord thank you for having Lady Gaga replace the original Pre weird lady thing!!
I'm goo-goo over Ga-Ga
Great move. This was necessary. HP's name is not as robust as Apple's in terms of (relatively brainless) consumer mindshare. Whereas Apple bends media around them, the same effect can work when media bends around products. So I guess this is a thank you, Gaga. As odd as that sounds.
Now all we need is a movie scene of Bond jumping out of an exploding plane and multitasking his expensive dinner date plans on a Pre 3 before pulling the chute.
@bigferret: I guess there's a percentage of people that would mindlessly buy a product endorsed by their diva, but that won't sustain sales (which, btw, that idea does not speak well of the Veer at all, if that's what HP thinks it's going to take to produce sales). It has to have real-world value to increase market share.
WebOS products have also gotten into a curious catch-22 situation: developers became hesitant to jump in and build lots of apps right away for the Pre. They looked ahead and weren't sure about it to the point where many decided to "wait and see" before committing serious resources into developing apps for WebOS; this in turn caused a dearth of apps from the beginning which has seriously hindered Pre sales, which in turn has caused developers to hesitate, etc., etc.
Even if WebOS products "have the goods," they have an uphill battle.
do they still have Justin Beiber too?
How does just a picture of a Veer promote ANYTHING?
Lady Gaga tweets from a Blackberry.
GREAT MOVE HP!!!
With this developing momentum, why not release colorful, jazzy handsets in more metallic and pastel color variation? Go after that hipster gadget loving crowd!
I don't have a marketing degree, so maybe I'm completely clueless, but I don't get this at all. The name of the product is not even displayed. How are people supposed to know what this is, where to buy it, and how to ask for it? Or is the plan to keep it a mystery until some big future marketing campaign? And then some people will say, "Yeah, this looks familiar. Where did I see it before?" Is there really much value in this marketing approach?
How are people supposed to know what this is, where to buy it, and how to ask for it?
Uh, well it DOES look an awful lot like a cell phone. And I'm pretty sure most people today know where to go for one of those...
Who wrote this on her twitter page LOL "dbmgreen about 3 hours ago Is that new HP VEER phone bottom left?"
this is a huge endorsement--it's lady gaga for crying out loud. but wheres the 110% execution? all the elements are there: lady gaga, her new album coming up, HP logo, 'everybody on,' Veer--but no tie-in? A big giant Veer the size of a window? Is this a Veer post-launch teaser campaign, as if to erase the existence of the Veer? Are we not supposed to know what the phone is anymore? Yes, even on wraps you can have a little bit more information on the phone. Maybe Lady Gaga didn't wan't anything else on it, who knows.
I see the effort, I see the work put in, but it has to be better executed than this. there's not even any cards on the screen! Nothing interesting about the Veer in that portrayal! No cascades, people jumping with one in their hand, no energy, no clever engagement with the sliding door, just a big ol' Veer. And it's not even the black and white one, the crazy, unique one (see the relationship to Gaga? Yea) Surely HP's design and marketing team has more up their sleeves and they are doing this on purpose.
It hurts to rag and rag on HP but where's the BEEF we keep hearing about???
HP should do a Lady Gaga-themed Veer and throw in a pair of $100 Lady Gaga "Heartbeats" headphones in for free. Maybe this would get some to overlook the Veer's lame magnetic headphone adapter attachment. (seriously, if the iPod Shuffle can make room for a headphone jack, why not the Veer?)
I don't think the iPod Shuffle has a physical keyboard, a touchscreen, or telecommunication radios. Unless there's a new one out.
I do not see any connection between the veer and gaga other than them being plastered all over the same train. I would lean more towards fortunate coincidence than anything else. Some of her other twitpics are taken with her Blackberry.
Can someone show me something that indicates that she is actively promoting the veer?
Update: to the right of this very story I currently have an ad for the Blackberry Torch - "Act on inspiration". Does this mean P|C is now promoting RIM/BB? No... it's just an unfortunate coincidence.
She is not promoting it...lets be clear about that...everybody knows she rocks a virgin mobile blackberry. But this is the best thing that could have happened to HP and the Veer. Someone needs to get on a bus and show her how this works because blackberry SUCKS.
Get her a Pre 3 or Stingray and a TouchPad pronto. Someone make app on webos. The veer, Pre and TouchPad would be great for a lot of little monsters. I have been begging for this ever since Fame Monster came out.
the phone looks cute. what phone is that? is it a droid phone?
Mix something neat with something horrible... hmm :|
Lady Gaga ushers in the return of Disco while sporting a Veer, Maybe the May 21 people have a point.
FINALLY
some marketing with some muscle, pizzazz and broad appeal
specifically Lady Gaga for the young crowd for the younguns' phone
good call HP
now bring the same for Pre 3 Touchpad slab phone et al
nice one!!!!!!!
now bring Manny P. coming out "SWINGING" at iOS and droid, i'll just be freakin' delighted if this is the message, explicit or implied
:)
welcome to our website:
------- http://www.simpletrading.org/ --------
if you like to order anything you like.
More details,
please just browse our website Quality is our Dignity;
Service is our Lift.
enjoy yourself.
thank you!!
------- http://www.simpletrading.org/ -----