HP takes to downhill skiing in wake of merger with Compaq

By Duncan Bridgeman

Friday 2nd August 2002

TIMING: Hewlett-Packard is still in merger mode and the Coronet Peak race is helping it to re-establish the brand

Hewlett-Packard managing director Russell Hewitt doesn't beat around the bush. Like the downhill skiers at this year's HP50K race at Coronet Peak in Queenstown, everything he says is fast and to the point.

"There's nothing worse than a company spending money on a sponsorship if the staff think it's a waste of time," he said, during a brief break from the near freezing temperatures at Coronet Peak late on Monday night.

It is the third time Mr Hewitt has been involved in sponsoring the 16-hour downhill 50K and the first under the HP name following the global merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq in April.

This year's race was the biggest yet, with nine international teams taking part, and as chief sponsor Hewlett-Packard pulled out all stops, bringing in 150 people for a massive marketing exercise that stretched across five days.

HP staff managed to raise $81,000 towards the total quarter of a million dollars the race raised for the Cure Kids charity.

"From a financial point of view always you are weighing up whether or not you're getting good value out of these things but this is the launch event for us for the new HP and the first opportunity we've had to run some advertising on our new brand," Mr Hewitt said.

"[The cost] is not insubstantial as you'd imagine ... but it means we can actually mobilise the entire company and show off some technology at the same time."

The race sponsorship has certainly worked out as a good ploy for HP. The event is viewed as the world's toughest international downhill endurance ski race with competitors participating from nine countries. This year Austrian Olympic downhill gold medallist Patrick Ortlieb entered the race, as did three previous winners of the Aspen 24-hour race, which the Queenstown event was based on.

The race starts at 6pm and continues through the night until 10am the next morning with skiers reaching speeds of up to 140kph. The skiers' only respite is a six-minute break as they make their way back up the mountain on the chairlift.

For HP the timing of the event couldn't be better. The company is still in merger mode and is looking to re-establish its brand.

Both HP and Compaq had strong brand awareness in New Zealand - HP has been here since 1967 and Compaq since 1988 (although it did business here earlier) - and there is relatively little overlap in product or services.

But to date the combined company hasn't had a chance to promote itself and the Queenstown event was the perfect opportunity for it to do so.

For the first time the race went live on the internet, with HP providing a live video stream complete with real time race results calculated from a unique timing solution developed by the company's technology department.

Instead of using laser beam timing, commonly used for athletics, HP came up with a solution that fitted in with the conditions and requirements of the race.

Taking a lead from motor sport, all 30 skiers attached special transponders to the back of their boots or just behind the knee, which had unique identification assigned to each skier.

Rated to 260ph, the transponders recorded skiers' times as they passed through the start and finish line. The data was then passed through a decoder and sent via a modem to the database in the IT room at the ski resort. From there the results were tabulated and put on to the internet.

Aside from skiing fans being able to tune in and view the results through the night, the skiers themselves could keep tabs on their times and make adjustments to their skis as appropriate.

Mr Hewitt said the feedback from the skiers had been very positive and the company would look at developing the technology for use in other similar sporting events.

He said the race offered the company the chance to bring staff and customers together and work through key priorities in a relaxed and iconic environment.

"The opportunity to bring our critical customers, our critical resellers, together and spend time with them socially and in a business session is pretty important for our business because it resets us for the next six months in what is a critical period for us.

"It gives the technology guys a real boost and kicks off the new brand and new culture at the right time."

In theory, the combined New Zealand operations of HP and Compaq will produce revenues of $547 million, control more than a third of the PC market and give the new company dominance in the commercial systems area.

Mr Hewitt said the merger had so far gone according to plan, with the management structure now in place, and the company was on target to have all the IT systems integrated by the end of August.

However, the eight-month gestation period for the merger took its toll on staff, with some deciding the uncertainty was too great to stay on.

"It would be silly to say that it didn't [take its toll] because there was a lot of anxiety in that time. We didn't lose a lot of people for probably the first six or seven months but we lost a few in that last month because it seemed to be dragging on and on.

"And of course since the merger a few people have chosen to go off and do other things."

But HP staff having managed to raise $81,000 - double last year's amount - showed the enthusiasm for the Queenstown event, he said.

As with the last two years, the German men's team won by a clear margin, with the British team coming in second. The New Zealand team of Richard Hanson, Nigel Gardiner and James Arnott picked up third place.

The enterprising Canadian team won the women's event ahead of Australia and the US.

Mr Hewitt said he hoped HP would continue sponsoring the event following the success from the past three years.

"My desire would be to continue with it because I think we've brought it a heck of a long way. I think it would be silly to drop it at this point when we've invested so much in it.

"But I think it's probably like any sponsorship - you've got to constantly review them to see whether or not the time has passed and whether you can still leverage it, especially with the company changing the way it is.

Fellow sponsor Qantas has committed itself to the event for another year.

Duncan Bridgeman travelled to Queenstown as a guest of HP

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