Intel: State of the Brand

This is the first in a series of posts on the state of the major tech brands.

Tackling Intel first seemed like a logical choice since the company just launched its new brand identity at the Consumer Electronics Show. The news was covered here and here and here amongst hundreds of other places all around the blogosphere.

Essentially, Intel wants to expand beyond its decade-long positioning as the premier provider of individual products such as microprocessors and build equity as a product solutions platform in 4 key markets: enterprise, mobile, digital home, and health. Gone are the wildly successful "Intel Inside" logo (used for 16 years with PC manufacturers) and the dropped 'e' in the company's main logo (37 years old!) The new tagline asserts that Intel helps customers in its target markets "Leap Ahead". The shift will be rolled out with a $2.5B ad blitz - and if this wasn't evidence enough of the end of an era, I just saw a TV spot last night on Intel's new partnership with Apple.

Intel says this rebranding is a natural byproduct of its reorganization around the Centrino (wireless) and future Viiv (entertainment) platforms - bye bye Pentium. Intel's Eric Kim, newly annointed CMO, believes the evolved brand will "establish a stronger emotional connection with our audiences". Go Eric! Very touchy-feely. Seeing as Kim was the guy credited with turning Samsung into a consumer brand powerhouse vs. Sony, I'm not surprised. He says it unifies and simplifies the look and feel of Intel offerings across product lines - always a noble aim in branding.

All this is the culmination of a busy 2005 for Intel - a year that saw a new CEO, new CMO, new business structure, new marketing dept. and new ad agency. Whew! It is trying to stem the tide of PC market erosion to AMD that has slowed revenue growth from 13 to 7% and profits from 40 to 5%. In the enterprise market, the move to marketing platforms over products comprises a drive to address business challenges with solutions/combinations of products that drive integrated processes. Intel is poised to launch more new products in 2006 than at any time in its history.

Mike's take: "Intel Inside" was a widely successful "ingredient branding" campaign, but with the commoditization of the PC market, it was time to go. Still, I don't know if the redesigned logo is an improvement - can we just BAN THE SWIRL from all enterprise tech design please??! But we all know a brand is embodied in what a vendor does, not a logo and tag - right?

CEO Craig Otellini is the first non-engineer to run the company. He told BusinessWeek that marketing expertise is the only way Intel can succeed in new markets - by communicating more clearly what the technology can do for customers. What a concept. Obviously, this has made some more technically minded employees uncomfortable. But partners like Apple and Sony seem to be genuinely impressed with the new, more flexible, open, collaborative attitude at Otellini's Intel. Andy Grove is a hard act to follow, but the world has changed. Time will tell if Otellini and Kim have truly reinvented the fifth most recognized brand in the world (according to BusinessWeek) or instead created our market's equivalent of New Coke.