HP Plans $100 Million Ad Campaign

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world_s No. 3 computer maker, said it will spend more than $100 million on its biggest-ever advertising campaign to show the world that it is serious about capitalizing on the Internet. HP also will unveil new software to help companies organize banking, travel, shopping and other tasks into comprehensive online services, said HP marketing manager N.Earle. He declined to provide details on the software. "We will launch the biggest ad campaign in HP_s history," Earle said in an interview at a conference in San Francisco. HP recently hired Allison Johnson, who worked on IBM_s "e-business" campaign, to help with its own effort. HP sells many of the same computers as IBM and Sun, but it doesn_t have the image of an Internet company, Earle said.