Intel’s Advertisements

A Critical Analysis of 5 ads

Sudeep D’Souza
8/28/2010

“This article critically analyses 2 print advertisements and 3 audio visual advertisements of Intel. Two
of them for the “Multiply” ad campaign and three for the “Sponsors of Tomorrow”. We also look at
the shift from the product centric advertisement method to its people centric vision and a few
suggestions that would make Intel’s Marketing strategy better.
In the beginning Intel was all about branding their products. We used to see Intel’s advertisements
about their Pentium Processors and then the Centrino Technology. From the Pentium 1 to Pentium 4
Intel created advertisements using product driven advertising campaigns. The Pentium 4 processors
had the blue men. In the recent past, Intel has undergone a change in its tagline from “Leap Ahead”
to “Sponsors of Tomorrow”. Its advertisements have moved from being product centric to employee
centric. In this article, we will analyse five (2 print and 3 A/v) advertisements of Intel, two from the
older “Leap Ahead” times and 3 from the “Sponsors of Tomorrow” campaign.

Core 2 Duo - Sprinter Print Advertisement

Intel came out with this advertisement for their

Core 2 Duo Processor in 2007. The tagline states
“Multiply Computing Performance and
maximize the power of your employees”. The
location of the ad is in an office where
computers would normally be located.

The pictography shows 6 sprinters. They are in

the “Set” stage of the sprinter “Ready, Set, Go”
take off. These sprinters are used to depict the
burst of speed that the core 2 duo processor
would have just after a computer boots up and
a continuing effort without slowing down until
the end of the race i.e., the computer is shut
down. The position which the sprinters are in
i.e., “Set” shows that the core 2 duo does not
have to move from “Ready” to “Set” but
directly to go. The muscularity of the sprinters
indicates the “Strength” of processing power.

The person in the centre depicts an employee

(in formal attire) and the entire advertisement
is put together to depict the maximizing of
power to the employees and is woven together with the Caption at the top. The office location also
brings out this effect.

The office also contains fans at the top. This would indicate that the office is non-air conditioned.
This would convey the impression that computers containing core 2 duo processor can be run in a
non air conditioned environment as opposed to the older generation computers that required a
lower temperature environment to enable maximum power.

This particular ad sparked a controversy as the ad, according to some people emitted racial
discriminating. The ad apart from being shown as to multiply performance also shows on the
surface, 6 back people bowing to a white person in the centre. Don MacDonald, vice president of
sales and marketing gave an apology at http://www.intel.com/news/sprintad.htm for the use of this
advertisement.
Core 2 Duo - “It’s time to Multiply” A/v Advertisement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRknu5DvpZw

Intel’s “It’s time to Multiply” is used to show the multiplicative effect of dual processing. It tries to
personify the processing method of the core 2 processor into dancers being cloned while they
dance. The following is a frame-by-frame analysis of the advertisement.

The first few seconds of the ad brings in a black male dancer with the tag
“It’s time to multiply”. This sets of an initiation point to which the rest of
the ad follows through.

The next few frames of the ad shows the dancer split into 4 and with a
caption “Multiply your intensity”. This gives the viewer the indication
that the performance of the core 2 duo processor multiplies to handle
the increasing demands from various programs. It does not handle
processes sequentially but splits up to cater to different processes at the
same time.

The advertisement then shows a hand off between the two dancers. A
white female dancer takes over where the male dancer moves out of the
frame. This in the processing terms brings about the presence of the 2
processors in the core 2 duo and also shows the handoff of processes
between the 2 processors.

The ad moves into the multiplying power of the female dancer into four
and this comes up with “Multiply your computing power” which brings
out the “strength” or “power” factor of the processor.

The ad ends with the tag “Multiply your possibilities”.

The first and the last tags are for the human connection and the middle
two tags describe the Intensity and the Computing Power of the Core 2
duo.

The Location of the ad is in a warehouse of some kind but can also be used to convey the inside of a
computer. This is borrowed from the previous Pentium 2 advertisements which show the capacitors
and resistors dancing inside the computer. The dance in itself is a quick step, quick move dance
which signifies processing speed.
Sponsors of Tomorrow – “Clean Room” Print Advertisement

The Intel “Sponsors of Tomorrow” ad campaign was launched on May 11th, 2009. This campaign
shows how ‘normal’ daily life terms such as clean rooms, rock stars and sandboxes are entirely
different for Intel. Through this campaign Intel wants the convey that “We're hoping to convey
that we're not just a microprocessor company, but a move-society-forward-by-quantum-
leaps company” (Deborah Conrad, Intel vice president and general manager)

The “Clean Room” advertisement of Intel shows the difference between the ‘normal’ for us and the
normal for Intel. It shows 2 pictures placed side by side to illustrate the difference.

On the left is a little girl’s room where she shows with pride as to how clean and tidy her room is. On
the left is an Intel fabrication plant which according to the copy is 10,000 times cleaner than a
hospital operating to keep even the smallest from causing damage to their microprocessors. The ad
also shows that employees in the fabrication plant have to wear “bunny” suits to maintain the clean
nature of the room. The ad is brought together by the text across the image stating “your clean
room isn’t like our clean room”. The isn’t like is the focal point in the ad, which is a blue in the pink
zone.

Analysing the elements in the ad, we see that the clean room to the left is primarily of cloth and pink
in colour while the clean room on the left is metallic and blue which shows that it is a fabrication
plant. The horses in the clean room on the left bring out the qualities of “speed” and “strength” in
Intel’s processors.

On an overall level, this portrays the shift between the product centric approach which we see in
Intel’s previous advertising and its move towards portraying “people” in their current ads.
Sponsors of Tomorrow – “Doodles” A/v Advertisement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeuBeBis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeuBeBis-Wg

A doodle is a type of sketch, an unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise
occupied.. In this ad we see Kelin Kuhn, Director Intel Device Technology occupied on a phone call
and doodling on her notepad. The doodles display the advanced technology used in the Intel
microprocessors. This ad brings out that the employees at Intel are always focussed on the design of
the processors even though occupied with another task.

The ad begins with the Intel logo at the beginning of the ad. This tells
the viewer whose ad they are about to watch. The frame also has the
Kelin Kuhn sitting at the table to which the camera pans to.

To show that the current Intel ads are employee centric, the name of
the employee is given. The location setting is in a visitor’s room where
several tables and chairs can be seen. This also gives the viewer a
glimpse of the Intel office working space and the comfort of the
employees.

The camera pans in to show her and then onto the doodles while she is
constantly occupied with the caller on the other end of the phone.

The primary
imary focus that sets this ad
apart is the doodles. The doodles,
depict the advanced technology that
has been used in the Intel processor
chips. The doodles show Strained
Transistors, CMOS Variation, Metal
Gate Transistor Research apart from
other advanced technological
processes that go into the Intel Chips.

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits
/advancedtech/index.htm

The ad ends with a group of the Intel employees going “bom, bom
bom bom bom” and a voice over saying “We are Intel, Sponsors of
tomorrow.” This ending is a part of all the ads in the Sponsors of
tomorrow ad campaign. This also brings out the employee focus of the
advertisements. The tune of the “bom, bom bom bom bom” comes c
from the previous Intel Pentium advertisements.
Sponsors of Tomorrow – “Lunchroom” A/v Advertisement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbifmRBBN6Q

The “lunchroom” ad of Intel serves to show both the product i.e., The Core i3 to i7 series, the
technological advancement as well as the Intel employees in its advertisement.

The ad begins with 3 of the employees talking in the lunch room. The
Intel logo can be seen on the wall behind them. The conversation
revolves around how the Intel core processor being the most amazing
technological achievement in history of the company.

However, the speaker is unaware of Jeffery the robot standing beside

him. Jeffery believes that he is the most advanced technological
achievement and the statement hurts his feelings.

This apart from showing Intel being able to mak advanced tehcnology
also shows Intel being able to make a robot with “feelings” which is a
very complex process to simulate.

This ad also shows the diversity of employees that work at Intel. The
first image shows an Indian and two Americans. The second frame with
Jeffery in the foreground has an African American woman in the
background. Jeffery has an Intel ID around his neck stating that he too
is an employee at Intel. The third frame shows a Japanese man in the
background.

The location also gives us a glimpse of what the lunchroom at Intel

looks like.

The ad ends like all the other Sponsorship of tomorrow advertisements with a group of employees
going “bom, bom bom bom bom”.

Jeffery the Robot: Jeffery the robot was most probably named after Jeffery P. McCrea the director
of Sales and Marketing. Jeffery the robot also now has his fan page on facebook.com
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeffrey-the-Robot/295016784733?v=info) which ads to the Intel
advertising strategy.

This ad being a product based ad as well does not show either the power, speed or intensity as the
previous Intel ads did. Intel has now gone past that stage of requiring showing its points of parity
over its competitors and advertises based on the points of difference of being able to make the most
advanced technology.
Suggestions to the Brand

• Intel with its current “Sponsors of Tomorrow” ad campaign has designed its ads to set them
apart from the common people. They want to show that Intel and their employees are
different, which creates a disconnect. Since the Intel microprocessors today are being used
by the common masses and Intel is the main source of processors, the ads should be able to
connect with the people and carry them along rather than setting themselves apart.

• The current Intel ads have done away with using the points of parity to show speed,
diligence and power. They use points of difference in their advertising strategy. In order to
reassure the customers that they are not sacrificing on quality in their quest for
technological advancement they should include the points on parity as well in their
advertisements.