The World’s Most Loved Printers just turned 25!
25 years ago, I had the privilege of launching the HP DeskJet printers in India. It was an era strongly dominated by the dot matrix printers – and I remember the dealers telling me that HP should focus on HP LaserJet printers and no one in India would look at buying anything other than a dot matrix printer for their printing needs.
We carefully positioned the printers on their researched and time validated proposition of HP reliability. While Epson launched their printers as 720 dpi printers – we side-stepped them and positioned the HP DeskJet printers as the world’s most loved printers. The positioning was carefully built thru a series of on-field and in-media actions – and sustained over the decade that I led the HP printer category in India.
We built record market shares for HP DeskJet printers in that era – over 80% with a phenomenal year-on-year growth. The full story is captured in my blog and vlog below:
The passion for these printers burns thru all the HP community. It welled forth in a personal gathering of ex-HP sales people organized by NT Prakkash at the Banana Leaf/Juhu Versova road last quarter. We were approaching the 25th anniversary of HP DeskJet printers – and so I wrote to Ketan Patel (India Head for HP Inc) and highlighted the occasion as something special in the evolution of the printer markets in India.
Very quickly, Ketan pulled together Sunish and Kaman – who lead the current printer business, and I was invited to a phenomenal, well curated HP Smart printer launch on 18th December!
25 years of HP inkjet printers were a key part of the celebration.
I had the privilege of being a guest at the event – and I am delighted to share that the HP teams did a phenomenal job of putting together the theme event with key messages interwoven across a Terrence Lewis dance performance, a Dr Gulati standalone comic act and a carefully curated, theme setup bringing alive the trials and tribulations of a small business with their printer needs.
More important, as I interacted with the scores of HP dealers and ex-team mates, the HP era came alive once more. We cut the cake, the emotions welled over …
As I shared with the HP community – clearly, the HP printer brand is in safe custody of the current leaders and dealer community- and it is set to soar to newer heights….
A special thanks to Sunish, Kaman -and the HP family for making this a very special evening for me. I will share more photographs of the event once I get them – but here are some shots for you to get a view of the same.
With amazing Vinod Mulchandani – the man who moved the Mumbai Printer Markets! It was a treat interacting with all my past dealer friends…and, of course, I must share my selfie with Terrence Lewis…hot-off-the-dance-floor sweat at the launch.
My future posts will cover more launch events from my career journey…( I will post the Munnabhai theme HP OfficeJet launch event video if I can retrieve it)….and simple marketing tools that I polished to ensure that we executed our event objectives with surgical precision. If you wish to get alerts on the future posts, I suggest you click on the subscribe button below!
