Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Sponsors of Tomorrow

Here’s a challenge: How do you create advertising that positions a huge multi-national micropressor company as the industry’s leader in delivering the essential technologies we all use today?

Oh, and by the way—make sure it’s fun, engaging, and creative while you’re at it.

For a company like Intel, that’s pretty tough. After all, semiconductors are barely visible to consumers (both literally and figuratively).

But in its latest marketing campaign, Intel now brands itself as the “sponsors of tomorrow.”

As Deborah Conrad, one of the company’s VPs puts it, “We’re hoping to convey that we’re not just a microprocessor company, but a move-society-forward-by-quantum-leaps company.”

Well that’s a mouthful, but that’s exactly what they’ve done. I’ve seen a few of the TV ads from this campaign—and each scores high marks for creativity and delivering the right message.

Here’s "Team Players," a great execution that demonstrates the value of robotics technology:

This is “Oops,” an interesting way to actually show the company’s products (well, sort of):

And here’s my favorite, “Rock Star," a reminder that the company’s engineers have invented many technologies we now take for granted, such as USB.

All of these ads make working at Intel seem like a lot of fun. In fact, company employees (or actors who pose as employees, I’m not quite sure) sing the company’s “bummm ... bum bum bum bum” signature chime at the end of each spot.

So congratulations to the agency that created this campaign, Venables Bell & Partners.

As agency co-creative director Paul Venables notes, “The more we learned about Intel, the more we realized how narrow our perception had been. This company is forging the future in so many unfathomable ways, and what a shame it is that the general consumer has no idea.”

He’s right. The more you learn, the more likely it is you’ll find that great idea that can launch a memorable campaign.

And while I can’t be sure, I suspect that one of Paul’s major accomplishments may have been getting the campaign approved in the first place. In large (pardon the pun) blue-chip companies, creativity often gets watered down as ideas go up the chain of command. It’s great to see that didn’t happen here.

So when tomorrow comes, you’ll know who’s responsible (Or who to blame, who knows?)

Posted by Richard Bloch

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