HP Westfield Mall Activation

The Background

Bringing your own device (BYOD) is becoming increasingly common in schools these days, and with so many choices of device, HP decided to run a ‘Back to School Tech Hub’ as a mall activation.

This campaign ran over the summer holidays before the start of the school year in 2018. The activation enabled HP to showcase their BYOD range of laptops to parents, and it gave students the chance to get some real-time experience on them before choosing their preferred device for school.

 The Challenge

• To create a portable mall activation that looked clean and inviting to students aged between 11-18. 
• The graphics had to be inspirational and draw people in. 
• There needed to be power to at least 7 laptops.
• Laptops needed to be secure but easily accessible, so people would feel like they could just stop and ‘have a go’.
• The activation needed to feel open and accessible with a contemporary look and feel, all the while being mindful of Westfield guidelines as to display restrictions and general health and safety.

 The Solution 

We designed a concept that had a modern look and feel. 

The use of light coloured timber and contemporary furniture allowed us to portray a fresh clean image that was both modern and appealing to our customer’s audience. 

To solve the issue of electrical cables we used raised wooden flooring that enabled us to hide the main power source cable under the flooring and have cable entry points exactly where we needed them. The table was built so that all cables came into one central point and were connected underneath the table. 

To create maximum impact for the activation, and to cut through the often visually crowded mall environment, we opted to use backlit fabric images for best effect.  All these lightboxes were double-sided to as to reach the foot traffic coming from all directions.

The production team retrofitted fabric frames and LED lights to some existing off-the-shelf furniture to bring lead time and production costs down.  We were also able to accommodate a 55” LED screen playing product content on one of the units.

As the activations had to “pop up“ in several locations during the crucial lead up to “Back to School“, the units also had to be highly portable and robust to ensure we could get into and out of locations in an often tight turnaround. 

We also introduced see-through acrylic bins where people could dispose of their old computers and go in the draw to win a new one! This not only provides a great service to assist in recycling these old machines but also highlights a way to safely and sensibly recycle electronics.

The mall activation was highly successful for HP, and thanks to the design and build of the stand it can easily be re-used time and again.