Profile: Vice-president of HP Asia-Pacific and Japan Ivy Liang

The influx of digital may have caught many by surprise, but for HP's Ivy Liang, dealing with digital and its derivatives is de rigueur.

Liang started out at HP as a marketing and communications manager before moving to e-business, then to product marketing, followed by a spell at the brand's consumer business. In 2008, she was appointed the vice-president of marketing for printing and imaging - a remit that includes responsibility for 15 countries across Asia-Pacific.

"I came in at a time when the internet itself was revolutionary and our interactions, be it personal or business, were migrating to an e-platform," she says.

Indeed, in the early 1990s business users needed a fast way to get quality print-outs of text, spreadsheets, and graphs. HP quickly recognised this and launched its LaserJet printer which literally created the desktop publishing boom, well before its competitors entered the field.

However, with the internet rapidly evolving to an even more revolutionary platform through social media networks, HP has had to transform its traditional concept of electronic interactions and make them more experience oriented and engagement-based. "As an internet company, our engagements have grown beyond just being B2B and extended to consumers within emerging markets as well as today's youth. We now position our technology as a creator and deliverer of experiences," says Liang.

For instance, several years ago, HP unveiled an array of products and partnerships through its digital entertainment strategy to help change the way in which people experience music, films, TV, photographs and other digital content.

"The strategy was not to market the printer as a device, but printing as a solution by creating experiences around it," says Liang. "So, for personal printing purposes, we enabled high quality photo printing similar to that found in a photo lab, while for those in the corporate side, the printing solutions meant better quality output for presentation purposes. We have also teamed up with Nickelodeon, Snapfish, Disney, McDonalds, Web Sudoku and Crayola to offer print solutions for children."

HP's printing and imaging has continued to evolve and most recently, taking advantage of cloud computing, it launched its web-connected printing. HP earlier this year opened a research facility in Singapore - its third in the region - to develop its cloud-based services.

"E-Print is a huge leap forward," says Liang. "It will allow every HP user to print in the same manner as they would send an email message from anywhere, thereby connecting print functions to their mobile lifestyle."

HP has always placed product innovation at the heart of its business. At the same time, though,, it has also become omnipresent through a straightforward market strategy of securing channel partners to reach its audience base across the world.

"We want to be recognised for our product innovation but don't want to make them exclusive to only a few users," says Liang. "This is why we remain committed to our partner marketing strategy and will ensure that our price point reflects affordability and therefore wider adoption."

HP's pursuit and trust in channel marketing strategy has also helped its penetration of tier two, tier three cities across Asia where it sees as the next growth engine.

This universal marketing strategy, with its emphasis on greater consumer engagement, has also played an important role in terms of the brand's agency relationships in the region. HP's digital print business is currently handled by BBDO/Proximity, with PHD handling media.

"Most of our customers using our products appreciate an engaging process even if they come from emerging markets," says Liang. "I would therefore expect our agency to partner with us in the entire customer journey all the way to purchase and loyalty management as well as develop the digital platform.

"It is not just delivering one-off big idea campaign; instead committing to different disciplines like strategic planning, CRM and shopper marketing through long-term relationships and key talent development."

Ivy Liang's CV

2008 Vice-president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP Asia-Pacific & Japan
2006 Director, brand and marketing communication, Imaging and Printing Group, HP Asia-Pacific & Japan; Marketing director, Graphic Solutions Business, HP Asia-Pacific & Japan
2002 Director, consumer business, HP Asia-Pacific & Japan
2000 Director, brand and marketing, Business Customer Organisation, HP Asia-Pacific & Japan
1999 Manager, e-Business and marketing communications, HP Asia-Pacific & Japan
1997 Product manager, Product Imaging Solutions, HP Asia-Pacific
& Japan
1995 Senior Communications Specialist, HP Asia Pacific & Japan
1991 Account Manager, McCann-Erickson Singapore

This article was originally published in the 26 August 2010 issue of Media.