HP Star Wars VIDEO BONUS: Katie (Bremer) Nauman on the red carpet at the premiere of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” To promote the launch of HP’s Star Wars Special Edition Notebook, she collaborated with the teams at Disney and LucasFilm. The campaign was the biggest in HP’s history — running in over 60 countries. (Photo by HP)

The Force of Marketing

Katie Nauman takes HP global and beyond

When Katie (Bremer) Nauman began her studies at Purdue in 2000, the online music market was dominated by the now-defunct Napster, iTunes was still in its infancy and the "Star Wars" trilogy prequel was getting mixed reviews.

When she graduated in 2004 with the Krannert School’s “Outstanding Senior” award and spoke at commencement, YouTube and Instagram didn’t yet exist and Facebook was a little-known novelty at Harvard and a handful of other East Coast and Ivy League colleges.

Oh, how quickly things change.

Today, Nauman is a global integrated marketing manager at HP in San Diego, California, where she oversees the global strategy, positioning, creative development and marketing implementation for half of HP's consumer PC portfolio, including its growing presence on the myriad of social media platforms and the red carpets of Hollywood.

The (career) road less traveled

Nauman was offered a $60,000 consultant job right out of the gate following graduation but her heart led her to “something more creative,” she says — an $8 an hour internship at a marketing agency in Denver called The Integer Group.

“I spent three years there, and ironically my first client was HP,” Nauman says. “I eventually moved on to work on several brands within the Procter & Gamble portfolio including Pampers and Bounty.”

For personal reasons, Nauman moved to San Diego and began working for The San Diego Union-Tribune. While in their marketing department, she reconnected with a former boss and mentor who had just been hired on at HP. He brought her in to start the integrated marketing function at HP — a model that is widely used at companies today but was in its infancy in 2007.

Everything new is old (again)

The evolving landscape of social media presents challenges and opportunities for Nauman and her team as they position HP in the marketplace.  “Our marketing plan has many different facets — TV, digital, social, print, PR, retail and more,” Nauman says. “I work with teams of specialists and sit at the middle in a ‘quarterback’ position to make sure that everything is seamless and integrated at a global level.”

One way HP is targeting younger audiences is through a new Snapchat channel that her team launched last year. Social marketing requires an “always on” approach, she says, to keep the content fresh. She also partnered with singer-songwriter Megan Trainor to make the music video for her hit song “Lips are Movin’.” The video has been viewed more than 360 million times on YouTube.

Nauman oversaw a campaign called "Going Epic" that launched during the 2015 back to school period. She compiled a dream team of 21 social influencers from Vine, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube and challenged them to “go epic” and #BendTheRules of their social content with the help of the versatile HP x360. Epic-ness ensued and Forbes named it the top social media campaign of 2015. 

The force is with her

Launching a new product for the 2015 holiday season allowed Nauman to partner with a “galaxy far, far away.” To promote the launch of HP’s Star Wars Special Edition Notebook, she collaborated with the teams at Disney and LucasFilm as one of seven global strategic brand partners of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The campaign was the biggest in HP’s history — running in over 60 countries — and one of her commercials was named the most engaged/liked TV spot of all Star Wars ads by the Wall Street Journal and Ad Age.

Nauman was also on the red carpet in Hollywood for the world premiere of the film.

As she settles into a new home in San Diego with her husband, Steve, an aerospace engineer, and daughter, Piper, Nauman will continue to find innovative ways to keep HP at the forefront in the marketplace.

“The marketing industry has changed so dramatically in the past 10 years,” she reflects. “If you don’t adapt, you’ll be forgotten and my job is to make sure the HP brand is top-of-mind.”

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