HP Revises Its MarketSplash Strategy

PALO ALTO, CA—05/19/09—With HP's introduction of the MarketSplash online marketing services program having stirred negative reactions from the print-for-pay sector, the company has announced modifications to the offering. It released the following backgrounder and service update:

What is MarketSplash by HP?
MarketSplash by HP is a one-stop, Web-based shop that provides HP small business customers with brand marketing services such as professional-quality design and print fulfillment. MarketSplash by HP is an expansion of Logoworks by HP’s custom design services, and now also provides small businesses with premium do-it-yourself (DIY) tools that leverage Logoworks’ professional design expertise. These online templates provide for the creation of a wide range of marketing products and services — from business cards, stationery, postcards, logos and Website design to one-on-one brand design consultation.

Who can leverage MarketSplash by HP and how are orders fulfilled?

MarketSplash customers want the choice and convenience of printing their projects through a variety of fulfillment channels — print-to-desktop at home or in the office (on their HP printer), print-to-mail (through an HP print service provider (PSP)), or print to retail for same-day pick-up.

Moving forward, the primary focus of MarketSplash will be print-to-desktop and HP will differentiate the offering for that audience. For customers with more complex printing needs, MarketSplash will continue to offer fulfillment to HP customers through our PSPs and retail partners.

What changes is HP making to MarketSplash by HP?

In the future, MarketSplash will be repurposed as a value-added differentiator for our HP printing products. Specifically, in line with the Print 2.0 strategy, HP will adjust MarketSplash.com in the following ways:

• HP will no longer advertise on the open market to drive traffic to MarketSplash, effective immediately. In September, the MarketSplash.com site will be turned off and relaunched as a service targeted to HP customers with a focus on print-to-desktop. The site will stay up through September to service existing customers.

• HP will open our print fulfillment network to our PSP partners in two ways: 1) we will add a PSP locator to refer customers to HP PSPs for local print fulfillment (PSP takes order, no back-end integration), and 2) for print-to-mail fulfillment (HP takes order, deep back-end integration), we will add additional PSP vendors when MarketSplash revenue scales to a $10M annual run-rate.

• HP will pilot a white label MarketSplash solution for HP’s PSP partners. If this pilot is successful, we will launch the white label solution to our HP PSP community.

Additional details will be provided over the coming months. HP customers can learn more about MarketSplash by HP at www.marketsplash.com.