Digital digs make debut at Bentley

The latest high-tech dorm room on the Bentley College campus is not a permanent addition.

The living space, equipped with the latest LCD television screens, video game systems and Zune MP3 players, will soon depart on a tour across New England, hoping to entice young consumers.

A version of the Digital Dorm Room was parked on the campus yesterday inside a 26-foot passenger van. Students played the video game "Rock Band" and were treated to a variety of promotional items from Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

The Digital Dorm Room is the product of a class of Bentley students, working on a marketing campaign for the technology company Hewlett-Packard.

Students in the class spent the semester working to revamp Hewlett-Packard's advertising campaign specifically for those between the ages 18 and 24, said student Caitlin Oakes, 22.

"Every spring Bentley has an Accepted Students Day where we invite all of the (high school seniors) who have been accepted to the college to come and visit before they make their final decision (on what college they will attend)," she said.

Oakes said her class came up with the idea to show potential Bentley students the dorm room. The purpose was to show off the kinds of work they do on campus and to promote their marketing campaign.

On April 5, students transformed a freshman dorm room into the Digital Dorm Room.

"We decided that was a good way to show incoming students what we are doing and show them what Hewlett-Packard is offering them," she said. "(Hewlett-Packard executives) thought it was a great idea and they said, 'How can we do this on another campus?' "

Oakes said a representative from Microsoft who previously spoke at the college learned about the project and also decided to get involved.

Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard combined forces to have the Digital Dorm Room recreated in a van, which will soon travel to different colleges and universities across New England.

Philip DesAutels, a Microsoft representative, spoke yesterday about the importance of the project.

"Real businesses make real decisions based off this. Hewlett-Packard has executives listening to this class," he said. "It's students solving real problems for real businesses."

Ian Cross, the professor of the student project class, said the exercise is part of a corporate immersion project, where the college works with different corporations on marketing challenges.

"Every semester we work with a real company on a real challenge," Cross said. "Although (Hewlett-Packard) is the number-one (personal computer) manufacturer, they are not number one in selling (personal computers) to college students."

Cross said the task for his class was to understand why college students don't choose HP products.

Student Jason Feldman, 21, said most of his peers buy Apple computer products, which was a basis for determining the marketing campaign.

"I think the dorm room will allow (college students) to be able to go in and see what Hewlett-Packard offers," he said. "Doing this will establish more of a credibility for students with Hewlett-Packard. I think over time as it becomes better known and more well seen on campuses, it will create some anticipation and a buzz in the college community."

Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or jgilbrid@cnc.com.