HP's Sprocket Printer Creates A New Teen/Tween Community

With the unending popularity of HP’s Sprocket printer it’s a wonder that other marketers haven’t already found a way to partner with this fun technology. In short, The Sprocket allows you to print small photos from your phone via Blue Tooth. Photo paper comes with a removable backing so that your photo can become a sticker. It keeps getting better.  The mobile app is loaded with fun editing tools that allow the user to play with the image, add elements like sunglasses etc. It’s the updated version of a 70’s Polaroid camera. Much like its predecessor, the Sprocket is made for group settings, especially parties where it can be set up like a photo booth and guests can create stages photos with props etc.

What’s most fascinating is the age group with whom this digital product has most quickly connected. Tweens and teens. My 12 year old daughter received one for Christmas this year and her days since then have been filled with endless printing. She has gifted all of us photos, stuck them to her bedroom walls, put them on her school binders, and even has a stash ready to be put up in her locker. So what does this have to do with marketing?

Well for starters, it’s an example that this elusive group, who shuns social media like Facebook for more esoteric platforms, favors OTT over networks TV, and who is said to have no interest in printed products have connected with one in a powerful organic way. The conventional thinking of the past ten years that says scrapbooks and photo albums are over may need to be rethought. Stores like Michaels are thriving, driven by the consumption habits of a youth market with a “maker mentality.” They are tactile, creative, and communal.  With products like the Sprocket we see a clear demonstration that this generation has established a marriage between the utility of digital with the physicality of analog, and at its core is the idea of sharing.

The second item for consideration is the notion that within this newly formed “community” of photo enthusiasts resides a marketing opportunity that remains untapped. A parental drawback to the Sprocket is that replacement film isn’t cheap, with 20 packs of paper selling for $10. With each newly minted photo my daughter distributed I could help but think that there was an opening for a marketer like Doritos to provide sponsored papers for party photos. Budweiser could provide them for college frat parties. New sponsored apps to augment those provided by HP could put Ray Ban’s on people, etc. This underwriting would lower the cost of paper and in turn driving additional consumption. All of it could be licensed through HP. Everyone wins.

My mother used to say that when you sing in church that you pray twice. I don’t know if that’s true but I do know that when your ad vehicle is a toy that your target audience plays with as a community that they connect more closely to what you are saying and often find it impossible to separate the message from the memory. Will the Sprocket moment last for long? Who knows? But the pictures that each unit prints have the capacity to last longer that any mobile phone speed bump ad. There the ROI is timeless. Not to mention a lot more fun for the user.