Ever get the feeling your computer support techs are playing around in their futuristic offices? No? Not even just a little? Hewlett Packard¡¯s summer ¡°Support Angels¡± campaign features TV commercials with members of all-girl pop group AKB48 enacting that fantasy.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the company is launching a campaign for new new 24/7 support service in Japan that blurs the line between offline and online advertising. They¡¯ve set up a big interactive display outside the east entrance of Shinjuku Station, a popular night-out meeting spot. A TV screen, the size of a small stage and ringed in neon, plays a slideshow of AKB48 members posing in headsets and the OL-of-the-distant-future costumes from the commercial. People hanging around the area are encouraged to interact digitally and physically: Tweets that are hashtagged ¡°support angel¡± (#¥µ¥Ý©`¥È¥¨¥ó¥¸¥§¥ë)??scroll instantly across the screen. And at smaller monitors nearby, people can win prizes by taking a quiz. (Electronics are the big prize, but everyone who plays will get at least a branded bottle of water.)

You can take the interactive experience home, too. On a recent hot night, they were giving out paper fans. The disks have a silhouette of a woman in a box on them. When you go to the website and aim the fan just so at your computer¡¯s webcam, the silhouette activates an AR version of AKB48 member Yuko Oshima. You can interact with the image and use your webcam to take a photo side by side.

Can she help with your tech troubles? Nah. ¡°It¡¯s called ¡®Support Angels¡¯ because it¡¯s like they¡¯re always looking out for you,¡± said a young man staffing the display outside Shinjuku Station. ¡°The support people aren¡¯t really AKB48,¡± he clarified. But the AR gadget gives you something to play with while you¡¯re waiting for a real tech to fix your computer.