Jay-Z Promotes HP Computers Grown Man Style

If I wasn't kind of fried from all the extraneous nonsense of late, I'd take a much closer look at the Jay-Z tv ad that's part of Hewlett-Packard's The Computer is Personal Again global campaign in which HP is sinking "several hundred million dollars".  You may have seen it during the NBA Finals last night.  If not, you can find it via the VIEWING ROOM link at the campaign website.

I dig the ad.  I think it's an actor doing the physical stuff but it's tight and the suit looks convincingly fashionable and expensive as does the manicure.

[Oops, maybe it is Jay-Z cause Shaun White did his.  You can find the making of Shaun White's via rcortevi's YouTube profile.  I almost didn't post that because they won't let you embed the video but I'll relent due to my professional obligations.  I guess it's a "f*ck viral" multiplatform campaign, pretty fitting for an agency whose homepage requires you to agree not to redistribute their material before you can enter.  Nevertheless, I hope they post a making of Jay-Z's commercial as well.]

You can also click through on the campaign website and see stuff that's supposedly on Jay-Z's computer.  I really like this campaign but I think the ads under VIEWING ROOM should be forefronted or their presence indicated in some way on the homepage.  I wouldn't have clicked through if I wasn't looking for the ad.

I'm not sure about the tagline, The Computer is Personal Again.  It's the again part that bugs me but I'm not sure what would be a good replacement that indicates the personalization element.  Although I recall similar campaigns (what's on your . . . ?), the "checking out famous cool people's personal computers theme" feels sound.  Any suggestions for a tagline or does that work for folks?

San Francisco's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners developed the campaign which includes mtvU's Meet or Delete series.  I think Agency.com did the site but I lost the reference.

I didn't mean to post all this.  One more post, then I'll see you Sunday.

Update: I just heard back from Tiffany Smith, PR Manager for HP Personal Systems Group, answering my question regarding whether or not that's actually Jay-Z in the commercial:
It's an actor doing the physical stuff, but it is his voice and all of the content shown in the commercial and on the web site is real, personal content provided by Jay-Z.  Also, the short piece of music played at the beginning of the commercial (and that is on his desktop at the web site titled "new track"), is a never-before heard track he's currently working on.

I'm glad to hear it wasn't Jay-Z in the flesh because I looked at the commercial a few times and then at a couple of music videos and, for a variety of reasons, decided it wasn't him.  The Shaun White making of video threw me off but Ms. Smith confirmed my professional opinion.  Since you probably don't know, movement analysis is one of the few areas in which I can legitimately claim expert status.  Unfortunately, I'm not finding a lot of uses for those skills at the present time.

Jay-Z Identity Update: Ms. Smith just got back to me with the news that, though Jay-Z initially had not planned on being in the ad due to time constraints, which was the last she heard about the matter, he ended up being in it.  So that is Jay-Z in the ad.  I now renounce all claims to expert status involving torso shots of famous people!

Update: Hashim's feeling it too and he makes  a great point about who's really getting the big boost from this particular commercial.  I'll be curious to hear about what this does for HP but it's definitely a good look for Jay-Z.  Looks like someone's already ripped it to YouTube as well but the official version looks a lot better over at the HP site.