Intel to sponsor your tomorrow

Intel has unveiled a new global campaign in India, called Sponsors of Tomorrow, which also introduces Intel’s revamped logo

A movie star, a cricketer or a sports celebrity may be a common man’s idea of a rock star, but for the people at Intel, that’s clearly not the case. It has unveiled a new global multi-million dollar marketing campaign with a new tagline, called Sponsors of Tomorrow. There are two global TV commercials which have been released as a part of the campaign.

The first TVC, called Rockstar, opens on a regular day at the Intel office, when suddenly the employees seem to stop in their tracks to have a look at someone who has just entered the office. The person in question is Ajay Bhatt, co-founder of the USB flash drive, who struts into the office in slow motion, along with a matrix-like background score. The ad ends with a voiceover which says ‘Our superstars are a little different from your superstars’.

Another TVC,
called Oops
, is set in a technology convention where Intel is about to reveal a new microprocessor. A journalist and a cameraperson enter the auditorium to find Intel employees struggling to find the tiny chip on the floor. She finds the microprocessor just in time and manages to save the day. The ad ends with a voiceover saying, ‘Our big ideas are a little different from your big ideas’.

Both these ads have been conceptualised by San Francisco based Venables Bell & Partners. Although both ads are global, one cannot miss the Indians who are the protagonists.

Apart from bringing these global campaigns to India, there are also print and outdoor ads (Bollywood and Cricket) which are adapted to suit Indian sensibilities. The Indian ads were done by T.A.G., while media planning and buying in India has been done by Omnicom Media Division (OMD).

The Inside story

Intel had launched a core brand thought called ‘Intel Inside’ way back in 1991 to make people aware that the personal computers used by them contain chips from Intel. Over the years, with research, Intel found that although it was a highly recalled brand globally, a lot of consumers had very limited knowledge about the company per se. To change that, the new global marketing thought is being implemented across countries.

The new global campaign will help consumers understand and know people who work for Intel and about the work it produces. ‘Intel Inside’ is a core brand thought which will be retained. The ‘Sponsors of Tomorrow’ tagline is expected to be used for the next three to five years.

“We hope to convey that we’re not just a microprocessor company but a move-society-forward-by-quantum-leaps company. What Intel develops today leads the path towards a better tomorrow,” says Tim Bailey, marketing director, Intel Asia Pacific.

Prakash Bagri, marketing director, Intel South Asia, says, “The technology Intel develops goes beyond just the microprocessor when, in fact, the greatest strength of the Intel brand will always be what is still to come. Keeping that in mind, we launched the Sponsors of Tomorrow campaign.”

India @ Intel

Globally, the launch phase began on May 11 in the USA, Germany and the UK. The campaign is also scheduled to be introduced in countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico and Russia, among others.

Jasmin Sohrabji, managing director, OMD India, says that since the same communication had to target two sets of people, one in the form of a tech-savvy consumer, the other of an emerging market, the media strategy was to first build an optimum reach base through conventional media.

“We then took key targeted platforms such as digital media, cricket, tech programmes and print to create high impact innovative executions of Sponsors of Tomorrow. This approach allowed us to not only reach both our audiences, but we also did it in a tone and manner that was relevant and engaging,” she says.

Bagri says that to effectively reach out to the Indian audience, the print and outdoor ads have been set in situations which are familiar to Indian consumers, such as cricket or movies.

Intel wants to be a part of the consumer product buying journey right from the opinion forming stage to the research stage, and then at the purchase stage. To facilitate that, apart from using traditional media, other media such as digital and retail will be used extensively.

The new campaign also introduces a revamped logo. The upper right corner of the logo is ‘peeled’ back to reveal a bit of etched gold substrate, which looks like it could have come from a processor.

A new processor rating system has also been introduced for Intel processors. The rating uses stars and the number of stars increase based on the features available in each processor.

Intel Outside

The industry experts share their views on the Sponsors of Tomorrow campaign:

The first reaction of Nandini Nair, creative group head, TBWA South is that Sponsors of Tomorrow isn’t as light a line as ‘Intel Inside’. “With such a profound line, the film execution could have got all heavy, considering they do have a lot they can flaunt. Instead, they wear their crown lightly and decided to chuckle at their success with some nice tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating humour – and that’s cool.”

Emmanuel Upputuru, national creative director, Publicis India says that it's a very basic thought but very well executed. “There is no doubt that India is the new superpower – you can see that in every field and this is one more example.” On a lighter note, he says, “I thought that the guy is an actor at first! A scientist who can act!”

“The ad is so human that it gets you and I love the casting and the treatment,” says Jagdish Acharya, founder, Cut the Crap. Although he likes the global version, he is not too fond of the Indian version of the campaign. “Quite often, one execution does full justice to the idea, but then the average is brought down by mixing it with multiple executions that don't measure up. This is a case in point,” he concludes.