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Technology Stocks : Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Duke of URL© who wrote (2207)	11/15/2002 1:54:32 PM
From: PCSS	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4345

H-P plans first post-merger brand ads Merrill Lynch analyst says slogan likely to disappoint PALO ALTO, Calif. (CBS.MW) -- Hewlett-Packard said Friday it plans to debut a new multi-million-dollar brand advertising campaign on Monday -- the company's first since its $18.6 billion acquisition of Compaq in May. The multimedia campaign will be the first to promote H-P and Compaq's brands and joint capabilities, said spokesman Arch Currid. H-P spent tens of millions on advertising earlier this year aimed at winning shareholder approval for the merger. "We've been saying for quite some time that we needed push out our first brand campaign, promoting the strengthened company," Currid said. "It's coming out next week." Currid wouldn't elaborate on the advertising message. He also wouldn't say how much H-P plans to spend on the ads, or how much it will spend on television, print and other advertising forms. Even before the campaign debuts, the message -- said by Merrill Lynch analysts to be "HP + Customers = Everything is Possible, " is being panned by the investment bank as ineffective. "If the slogan is similar to what we've heard, we'll be disappointed," said Steven Milunovich, a senior Merrill Lynch analyst, in a note to clients. "In our view, most slogans are meaningless generalities. A good slogan would be hard to associate with another company." H-P's (HPQ: news, chart, profile) slogan could apply to any company in any industry, Milunovich said in the research note. It doesn't help H-P stand out from its competition. Perhaps more importantly, the slogan may fall flat if customers consider it to be untrue. Milunovich said users know that everything is not possible. Similar branding campaigns in the technology industry have cost about $400 million, according to Milunovich. He said he understands that it takes "big bucks to create a big brand" But good advertising is "focused and differentiated," he said. H-P spent about $900 million on advertising last year, down about 14 percent from 2000, according to ad-tracking service CMR. Last year, H-P ranked No. 33 in total corporate advertising spending, down from No. 24 in 2000. Compaq did not break the top 100.