Intel has embarked on a major rebranding exercise. This new strategy will see the company’s focus evolve from a PC-centric existence to a future that involves installing its chips in emerging technology platforms such as high definition television, DVD recorders, mobile phones, PDAs and cameras.
Tomorrow at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Intel CEO Paul Otellini is expected to reveal plans to drop the familiar ‘Intel inside’ catchphrase. These will be replaced by the words ‘Intel. Leap Ahead’ which Intel hopes will project a more focused and innovative brand image.
The chip maker, which is said to be the world’s fifth most valuable brand, worth an estimated US$36bn according to the Interbrand consultancy, will also change its 37 year-old logo. Replacing the logo featuring a lowered ‘e’ will be one showing an oval swirl surrounding the company name.
“Intel has one of the most valuable brands in the world, and we intend to grow the value of our brand as we evolve the company,” said Eric Kim, Intel senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s sales and marketing group. “This evolution will allow Intel to be better recognised for our contributions, establish a stronger emotional connection with our audiences, and strengthen our overall position in the marketplace.”
It is widely understood that Intel is moving beyond its successful original marketing ploy that led consumers to demand PCs featuring Intel microprocessors. Instead it wants to focus on expanding this image to include Intel chips inside most common digital products ranging from phones to set top boxes and digital cameras.
Tomorrow Otellini is expected to unveil two new Intel brands: ‘Viiv’ (which rhymes with alive) which will focus on chips inside forthcoming PCs and servers and ‘Core’ a chip family which will feature inside mass range of consumer electronics that don’t require too much power, including a new family of Apple computers set to be unveiled next year. Core, until now known by the codename Yonah, is a 32-bit microprocessor chip with two separate processing cores and the ability to conserve power and run cooler than previous Intel chips.
By John Kennedy
