'Mr Z’ turned the top creative studios in the UK into HP super users. We found the top 1% most influential and used them to persuade the rest to ditch their Macs in favour of the new HP Z-Series workstation. This integrated campaign pitched the elite against each other in a creative competition based around specially created animated character Mr Z. Our chosen agencies used the HP Z-Series to tackle an imagination-stretching animation brief featuring our superhero. During the campaign they spoke about it, blogged about it and Tweeted about it, mentioning, or course, the brilliance of the HP Z-Series. The whole campaign culminated in a special event at the BFI where the creative individuals gathered together and saw their film premiered. The result was a lasting bond between these influencers and HP, and a set of authentic voices who could shout about their genuine love for the HP Z-Series. HP was so impressed by our campaign it’s now become the template for the launch of the HP Z-Series across Europe.

We partnered with the design team at another advertising agency to create animated superhero Mr Z, who would form the centre of our creative challenge. We then searched for agencies to participate in the challenge, assessing them for influence by observing how much they talked online about their work and to whom. Using our online mapping tool ‘Rufus’ we found the top 1% most influential studios in the UK.Twelve studios agreed to make a 30-second film clip based around Mr. Z. At the end of the campaign, all the clips were joined together to create one film which showcased the studios’ creativity.Each agency was lent a Z-Series. We invited them to blog, Tweet and chat about the process, mentioning the Z-Series in particular, and set up a microsite on the HP.com/uk site.

We issued teaser trailers designed by an external agency and uploaded to Facebook and You Tube.

Our campaign found a way to reach creative studios that hadn’t been done before, and HP was delighted with the result. This previously Mac-loyal group still works with HP still uses the Z-Series and still talks about their experiences. They are HP’s toe-hold in the creative community and will be consulted and used in future launches/campaigns. The agencies blogged throughout the campaign and chatted to the Mr Z character on social media. The campaign impressed HP so much it is now the template for campaigns across Europe.Quotes: “This was a very enjoyable project to be part of, so thanks for that! We've ordered extra Z-series workstations as we were very impressed with our trial one!” Tom Box, Blue Zoo.“The best thing for us was the speed of the rendering which the Z800 with its 8 processors just tackled them very easily.” Asa Movshovitz, Creative Director, Keyframe Studios.