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HP tunes up millions in ads

Gwen Tune in tonight (on US television) to see the start of the broadcast commercials which are the backbone of HP's new $300 million ad campaign. Expect to see singer Gwen Stefani, a favorite from the Carly Fiorina flash days of HP's 2005, front and center in the campaign, which HP is using to push "Print 2.0."

The global marketing campaign is all in support the company's printing business. That sector of HP's operations showed no better growth in the third quarter of 2007 than in the same period of 2006. The fall ad campaign is timed to deliver millions more into the company's final 2007 quarter.

The campaign's first TV spots debut tonight.

A new HP Small and Medium Business Wetpaint Wiki shows at least as much creativity as hiring Stefani. The site "is all about you. What you do, where you want your business to go, and how we can help. We hope you'll contribute your ideas, share examples of what helps your business succeed, and ask lots of questions."

And the hosting site which brings that print bounty to HP customers is edgy.

Doobs Wetpaint is a free wiki hosting site with a twisted sense of humor, at least on Tuesdays. Last month one of its "Twisted Tuesdays" wikis was the Dude + Boobs = Doobs Wiki, where Wetpaint proclaimed, “If you got ‘em, flaunt ‘em! This wiki is for those with magnificent man-mamms and those poor souls who don’t know how to handle their he-knockers. Come one, come all!"

Disney TV's Hanna Montana (Miley Cyrus), shown at left, extends the range of American celebrity pop-singer fame beyond Gwen's platinum tresses at Wetpaint.

HP said the new "What do you have to say?" interactive marketing campaign, which allows users to create and print customized content, is its largest to date.

The campaign allows customers to combine and publish their own content using free content featuring pop singer Stefani, Burton Snowboards founder Jake Burton and graphic designer Paula Scher.

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