HP partners with MTV to present The Engine Room

In another instance of intriguing brand partnerships, following on from HP’s collaboration with fashion designer Vivienne Tam that we mentioned yesterday, the same brand is now joining forces with MTV and their university channel MTVu to produce the TV and online series ‘The Engine Room’, which will feature 16 young creative types divided into four teams as they compete to produce digital art using HP laptops and other Hewlett-Packard products. The contestants will be tracked as they sit in a loft in Brooklyn, New York. Nearly 2,000 contestants from 122 countries submitted 20,000 pieces of artwork to be considered for the series. ‘The Engine Room’ is an example of the growing trend of brands latching on to online programs in a bid to reach out to young people who mostly access the brand online or through their mobile (a growing segment of the target market). It isn’t the first time HP has entered into such a partnership though - their relationship with online video seems to be tried and tested through another previous program called ‘Meet or Delete’ they presented with MTV and ‘Dorm Storm’ with Broadband Enterprises. 

From the New York Times:

“We don’t want it to be advertising; we want it to be real,” said David Roman, vice president for worldwide marketing communications at the personal systems group of H.P. in Cupertino, Calif.

“We’re learning as we go not to do so much talking about what we do but rather let people do things with the product,” Mr. Roman said. “That’s where the ‘wow factor’ comes from.”

[via New York Times, image by T.Lawrence Wheatman/MTV via New York Times]