Brand Management Inside Intel Inside

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CASE: INSIDE INTEL INSIDE

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Q1. What was the motivation behind Intel Inside Branding campaign?

Intel inside campaign was motivated by the following factors:

1.  Branding – to create a performance based awareness among the users: Intel introduced several new products and branding each product was not feasible. Also the chip labels were in numeric form and as per law they could not be trademarked. Intel Inside campaign would ensure creation and awareness of umbrella brand where new products could be added and identified by consumers as high performing products. Instead of running a marketing strategy limited to each chip the campaign reflects marketing its own brand strategy.

Restriction on trademarking chip numbers created a need to create an umbrella brand that leverages the attribute of all the product lines (existing & upcoming).

2.  Marketing – need for change in marketing strategy from design engineers to consumers: Intel’s presence was known at the industry level but they also wanted the consumers to be aware of them as an essential high performing product inside computers. This essentially meant more advertising.

There was also limited understanding of the ever innovative new products and the difference from its predecessors.

3.  Develop pull strategy – change the customer buying behaviour and generate the need: Utilizing the awareness campaign they wanted the consumers to be more knowledgeable about the brand. This strategy was adopted to increase demand from the end users.

4.   Higher bargaining power: Intel wanted to enjoy higher bargaining power as a supplier and hence utilizing ingredient branding it wanted its processors to be at the spotlight and be given an identity as an essential component in computing resources.

5.   Increase market share: Utilizing the campaign Intel wanted to be gain more market share by marketing activities. These included goals such as advertising to the industry and logo on OEM’s products to gain attention of the consumers towards the micro-processor to perceive it as the key component in the product.

Q2. What factors have accounted for the success of the campaign?

Even after a lot of scepticism Intel Inside campaign did turn out to be a successful branding campaign. This is evident from the fact that it was ranked sixth most valuable brand in the world.

The factors that contributed to its success are as follows:

1. Successful implementation of pull strategy:

• Intel manufactured a product that was actually used by the OEMs. So Intel required B2B marketing.
• The observations showed that if the end consumer is aware of the product only then the OEMs use it.
• The ads of Intel Inside campaigns targeted the end users directly. So they were displayed/broadcasted on wallstreet journals, televisions, point of purchase, OEMs like Dell, IBM etc.
• This created an awareness in the end consumers like the IT professionals thus increasing the demand from their end.
• Therefore by increasing the demand from the end users, they were able to pull the OEMs and that resulted in 2700 PC makers to participate in the campaign by 2001.
• Thus microprocessors became most important component in the perception of the buyers.

As a result of this more PC makers started adopting Intel. OEMs supported Intel’s marketing strategy of Co-op advertising program.

1. Delivery of quality:

• Intel’s campaign was mainly successful because it had technology to back it up. Intel was market leader in innovation by spending significant amount on R&D. They were the first to introduce microprocessors with faster processing speed.

• They were a leading microprocessor company when the campaign began. Intel always stuck to its core values of leading technology safety.

• They delivered what they promised and were performance based product manufacturers.

1. Consistency of brand image:

The campaign made sure that the company’s brand image remained constant.

The core values of the brand were kept consistent

The emphasis of brand on “leading technology and safety”. Thus consumers had formed a strong association of this with Intel products.

1. Focus of marketing on experience and performance:

• The campaigns never focused on the technical details of the Intel chips.
• They were more focus on performance and how it enhanced the digital world.
• They tried to bridge the gap between technical details and the emotional experience.

Q 3. What are the current problems Intel is facing in the PC market?