HP channel waiting for global Print 2.0 scheme

UK resellers will learn how vendor's marketing campaign will affect them next month

HP’s UK resellers will learn next month how the vendor’s $300m global Print 2.0 marketing campaign will benefit them.
The vendor’s Print 2.0 strategy, which it first touted in May, is an approach to expanding HP’s strategic focus from the PC-enabled world of printers towards a more open, internet-enabled one, leveraging all forms of personal and professional digital content.
Rebekah O’Flaherty, vice president of marketing for HP’s Imaging & Printing Group, EMEA, said: “Print 2.0 is about recognising the changing print environment in which both consumers and businesses operate.
According to O’Flaherty, resellers will need to change the conversations that they are having with customers to adapt to the new printing environment.
“Print 2.0 will be our strategy for the next five to 10 years and it is
all about moving people over from analogue equipment to digital devices,” said O’Flaherty.
“The key message to the channel behind Print 2.0 is that the printing environment has changed dramatically ­ and with change there are always opportunities,” she added.
The details of these opportunities are expected to filter through to UK partners between now and 1 October when the global marketing campaign goes live in the UK.
Called “What do you have to say?”, HP’s campaign will enable customers to create and publish digital content in new ways through a series of online tools.
James Kight, managing director of VAR Printerland, said: “It sounds like HP is trying to make print sexy, which can only be a good thing.”
Kevin Jones, managing director of VAR Printware, added: “I’ve not yet had my HP account manager flag up the Print 2.0 strategy but the issues that Print 2.0 covers are relevant.”
“Today, people’s experiences no longer revolve around the PC with a printer attached to it. People use digital devices to create and share content over the internet.”
HP taps Web 2.0 for Print 2.0