Agile Intel: From Inside to Amazing Experiences Outside
In 2016, Intel and global music icon Lady Gaga delivered a musical performance unlike any before at the Annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony.
In collaboration with Intel technologists and Lady Gaga’s creative team, specialized hardware powered by Intel® Xeon®, Intel® Core™ and Pentium® processors provided the requisite high performance to choreograph the lighting, audio and projection systems in perfect harmony with Lady Gaga.
Source: Newsroom
Here, Intel was appealing to the audience and millennials and creating awareness that Intel was much more than “Intel Inside”. However, it was with the “Intel Inside” campaign, that the company evolved from an an ingredient / unseen product to become a globally powerful brand.
The original motivation for the campaign was the need for an umbrella brand for its constantly evolving product line. With new products being introduced every year or so, increasing competition / clones in the market and the ruling that chip labels with just numbers could not be trademarked, led to creation of an umbrella brand – Intel.
Some of the key success factors of the branding campaign were:
1. Co-marketing, Intel convinced manufacturers that their computers would have higher perceived value if they opted for co-marketing, as well as obviously getting the advertising dollars.
2. Performance based product: The underlying product was of good quality and reliable
3. It aimed to educate the users about the value of Intel microprocessors, without the technical jargon and bridged the gap between the technicality and the feeling / experience of using technology
4. Bridging the internal gap that exists between the engineering and marketing teams.
I found the use of co-marketing by an ingredient technology company to be very unique at that point of time. In the HBS case, Carter is quoted as “Because of the campaign, the microprocessor has come to be viewed as a very important component of the PC, which has probably kept us from getting squeezed on price and has allowed us to spend more on R&D than we otherwise could have. Our market segment share is definitely higher as a result. Also, the PC market would not have grown as quickly without the emergence and growth of PC magazines, which were fueled by Intel Inside advertising.
These companies leveraged their visibility to achieve individual promotion goals. Co-marketing has led to success of various other products as well, such as Volvo/ Lego, Uber/ Spotify, Redbull / Go Pro. Another interesting example of a non B2C company using this comes from Hubspot, founded by a fellow Sloanie.
“By working with AI chat bot foundry Chatfuel, it ran a successful promotion that introduced visitors to the versatility of B2B AI with a brilliantly interactive Chatfuel experience and one of HubSpot’s classic guides.”
Source: Bluleadz
However, some of the challenges which come with this strategy were seen when Intel tried to move it other products, which fell outside the “Intel Inside” umbrella. The key learning from this is that the marketing strategy needs to evolve with product development continuously. Intel realized this in the later years, and added another factor to its brand campaign: “Amazing Experiences Outside”. The company is evolving with the consumer base, now comprising of millennials, and is using the appeal of music, sports, entertainment and gaming to create awareness about the brand - which is much more than microprocessors now.
