HP Inc. sees 48% uplift in ink subscribers thanks to Connected TV

Connected TV has all but replaced HP Inc.’s linear TV buying model. What’s more, digital out-of-home is now considered a key channel for its core business units across Europe. Here’s why.

When buying habits are deeply ingrained, it can be hard for any brand to disrupt the market. That was the challenge facing HP Inc.’s ink subscription service, which was struggling to make its mark on consumers. The brand knew that to create real change, it needed to build a strong understanding of its product and help customers see the value it offers. However, its linear TV and search activations were failing to deliver a positive ROI.

HP’s in-house media activation team saw this as an opportunity to create a channel mix that could meet their ambitious campaign goals for the quarter. For that, they collaborated with The Trade Desk to activate Connected TV (CTV) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) alongside search engine marketing (SEM). Their aim? To prove that they could generate the same impact and scale as linear TV while showcasing the effectiveness of digital channels compared to traditional media buys.

ACTIVATING CONNECTED TV AND DIGITAL OUT-OF-HOME TO MAXIMISE, MEASURE, AND OPTIMISE REACH

The team knew their audience: 25-to 54-year-old adults, families with children, and those who lived close to consumer electronic stores. To reach them, the team leveraged The Trade Desk’s platform and capabilities to access all major and medium-size players in a very competitive CTV market. The mix of major broadcasters secured scale, while smaller CTV providers contributed incremental reach, which was instrumental in achieving more search activity uplift than what linear TV accomplished – all with a considerably smaller budget.

Next, after mapping the closest areas around HP’s main retail partners and malls, The Trade Desk helped the team understand the best DOOH publishers to gain scale, increase share of voice, and meet campaign goals. To further enrich the activation and reach relevant audiences, the team chose to run their campaign on screens in metro stations during commuting hours, and in main malls on the weekends. Lastly, through The Trade Desk’s reporting suite, the team were able to measure and control reach and frequency across all publishers daily, optimising to the goal of avoiding oversaturation and wasting media budgets.

OUTSTANDING RESULTS OUTPERFORM ALL EXPECTATIONS

The new channel mix (CTV plus DOOH plus SEM) generated a 49% improvement in cost per acquisition (versus TV and SEM) quarter on quarter, and a 48% uplift in subscriptions with 22% less budget. Lastly, according to third-party studies, CTV and DOOH generated a 50% and 8.5% uplift in Instant Ink awareness, respectively, plus a 16% ad-recognition uplift.

Learn how to make Connected TV and digital out-of-home a successful part of your campaigns. Get in touch: [email protected].

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