Intel’s Marketing Campaign: From Engineering Numbers to Pentium

Intel makes the microprocessors that are found in 80 percent of the world’s personal computers. In the early days, Intel microprocessors were known simply by their engineering numbers, such as “80386” or “80486. ” Intel positioned its chips as the most advanced. The trouble was, as Intel soon learned, numbers can’t be trademarked. Competitors came out with their own “486” chips, and Intel had no way to distinguish itself from the competition. Worse, Intel’s products were hidden from consumers, buried deep inside PCs.

With a hidden, ntrademarked product, Intel had a hard time convincing consumers to pay more for its high-performance products. Intel’s response was a marketing campaign that created history. The company chose a trademarkable name (Pentium) and launched a marketing campaign to build awareness of the Intel brand. The “Intel Inside” campaign was Intel’s effort to get its name outside of the PC and into the minds of consumers. Intel used an innovative cooperative scheme to extend the reach of its campaign.

It would help computer makers who used Intel processors to advertise heir PCs if the makers also included the Intel logo in their ads. Intel also gave computer manufacturers a rebate on Intel processors if they agreed to place an “Intel Inside” sticker on the outside of their PCs and laptops. Simultaneously with the cooperative ads, Intel began its own ad program to familiarize consumers with the Intel name. The “Intel Inside” campaign changed Intel’s image from a microprocessor maker to a quality standard-bearer.

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The ads that included the Intel Inside logo were designed to create confidence in the onsumer’s mind that purchasing a personal computer with an Intel microprocessor was both a safe and technologically sound choice. Between 1990 and 1993, Intel invested over $500 million in advertising and promotional programs designed to build its brand equity. By 1993, Financial World estimated the Intel brand to be worth $17. 8 billion. Intel continues its integrated campaigns to this day. For example, when launching its Centrino mobile platform, Intel began with TV ads that aired in the United States and 11 other countries.

These ads include the animated logo and ow familiar five-note brand signature melody. Print, online, and outdoor advertising followed shortly thereafter. Print ads ran in magazines and featured ads that targeted that magazine. For instance, an ad appearing in a sports magazine showed the logo in the center of a tennis racquet with the tagline “High performance laptop. No strings attached. ” Simultaneously, Intel held a “One Unwired Day” event that took place in major cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle.

In addition to allowing free trial Wi-Fi access, each city held festival events that included live music, roduct demonstrations, and prize giveaways. The company also set up free access demonstration sites (with wireless Centrino-powered laptops) in areas frequented by road warriors, such as San Francisco’s airport. To boost interest in mobile computing, the company partnered with Zagat Survey to produce a mini-guide inserted into The New Yorker that identified more than 50 “Wi-Fi Hotspots”—mainly restaurants and hotels—in the “One Unwired Day” cities. Finally, Intel ran online ads on such Web sites as CNET. om and Weather. com. Yahoo! created a Wi-Fi Center Web ite co-sponsored by Intel and featuring Centrino advertising.

The “Unwired” campaign was another Intel success in marketing integration. The $300 million total media effort for the Centrino mobile platform helped generate $2 billion in revenue for Intel during the first nine months of the campaign. Among marketers, Intel won the Innovation award in the Business Superbrands Awards 2003. Going forward, Intel CEO Craig Barrett said the company will aggressively target opportunities outside of its traditional revenue stream in PCs.

The company ill be moving beyond “Intel Inside” to “Intel Everywhere”—Intel chips in every type of digital device possible, from cellphones to flat-panel TVs to portable video players and wireless home networks, even medical diagnostic gear. The company is targeting 10 new product areas for its chips. If the new markets take off, they’ll increase demand for PCs and services, bringing new revenues for Intel’s core products even if its own new products do not succeed in these markets. In 2005, former marketer Paul Otellini will succeed Craig Barrett as CEO and take the helm of this $34 billion company.

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