Glenn Cole writes:

>After telling a snapshot of life in the 1930's, they tell how
>JOHN Hewlett (D-oh!) and David Packard invented the oscillator.
>"From that point on, ... the entire future of the planet was altered."
>
>The "BrandSpirit" (catch phrase) they came up with for HP in 1995
>was
>      Hewlett-Packard is the company
>      that invented the future of mankind.
>
>HP turned it down.
>
>The full article (which may have other gaffes -- did HP invent RISC??)
>was published in Apple's publication "AppleDirections," and is online at
><http://www.devworld.apple.com/mkt/informed/appledirections/feb97/branding.html
>

Um, actually, that section of the article has exactly three things right:
David Packard's full name, William Hewlett's last name, and the fact that
HP produced the first affordable laser printer. Literally EVERYTHING else
is wrong -- and they should only get half-credit for the laser printer,
since it was Canon that designed and built the hardware.

If someone who wanted to invent an advertising program for MY company
bothered to absorb so little of the publicly-available information about
it, I'd have them forcibly ejected from the building. Sheesh.

>Apologies is this is viewed as a waste of bandwidth.

Not at all... the article to which you refer is quite amusing, and a
classic example of how NOT to do marketing. The fact that HP rejected
their pitch is a very reassuring sign. Pity about Apple, though. If these
guys are really advising Apple, even _I_ might start losing faith.

-- Bruce


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