HP’s ‘Work Happy’ campaign celebrates the new rules of work and laughs at the old
The old ways of working look awfully funny in HP’s new global campaign.
‘The future of work’ has arrived – and HP is welcoming it with open arms.
In a new campaign, the office tech company celebrates the shifting norms of professionalism while seeking to position itself as an indispensable brand in the new world of remote and hybrid work.
‘Work Happy’ features a hero anthem film and three shorter video spots, each of which pokes fun at the old cliches of what it means to be successful in one’s professional life. Wieden+Kennedy Portland handled.
The hero film’s main character is a stereotypical workaholic and curmudgeonly chief exec – more Ebenezer Scrooge than Don Draper. His three-piece suit, trim mustache and neatly-manicured combover all combine to make him look like a relic of the nineteenth century. He staunchly lectures viewers on “the ground rules” they’ll need to follow in order “to be successful.” These are all as antiquated as the character’s clothes. And that’s exactly the point.
Illustrating the absurdity of these once-ironclad but now outdated workplace rules, HP juxtaposes each of them with scenes from the lives of people living a remote or hybrid work lifestyle. “You’ll need to come in early,” our dinosaur boss tells us; we then see a man running with his surfboard out of the ocean, the rising sun behind him, toward his “office” – a laptop perched on some gear just a few yards up the beach. “Master the cold call,” he says, while a man rides a chairlift in a blizzard, holding a tablet and talking to colleagues on a video call.
In addition to emphasizing fun and the freedom to travel, the hero film also underscores familial connection. “Make sure you get plenty of facetime with the boss” – cue a man leaning away from his computer to make a funny face at his daughter, who’s sitting just across from him. And, of course, throughout the entire montage HP products take center stage.
“If there is one thing we are sure about, it’s that the rules have changed,” said Christen Brestrup, creative director at Wieden+Kennedy Portland. “Success and even happiness look a lot different today than they did years before, both in our professional and personal lives. HP is focusing on solutions and products that allow you to work in whatever way works best for you, and together our goal with this campaign is for everyone to find a way to ‘Work Happy.’”
The new campaign kicks off today in the US.
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