Abdullah Bikiya ERP : 03412 Brand Management Assignment # 1 1.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Intel Inside campaign?

The biggest strength and competency of the Intel Inside campaign was that it helped Intel increased its Brand Equity. The nature of Intels product is such that the end user is not the direct customer of its semi conductors. The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) are the direct consumers of Intels chips and semi conductors. This issue led to a lack of awareness amongst the end users about intel and hence Intel wasnt able to build its equity. The Intel Inside campaign increased the brand awareness of Intel and it developed a pull preference for devices that use Intels products. It did not only help in creating awareness amongst the end users ,but also helped in building good profitable relationships with tier 2 and 3 OEMs. These OEMs used Intels name to market their product and build their good name in the consumer market. The negative side of the campaign was that the giants of the OEM sector did not want to print Intels name in their promotion. According to their point of view this would lead to a reduction in their own brand equity on the expense of Intel. This resulted in conflict with tier 1 OEMs. Although this campaign increased the brand awareness and equity of Intel, but it did not conveyed the complete message about Intels products. An average user did not know anything about the specifications of the Intel chip etc.

2. Evaluate Intels continued use of the Pentium family of processors. Did Intel make the right decision by extending the name through the Pentium 4 processor?

The use of Pentium family of processors was a well sketched plan by Intel. It helped in creating a separate brand for the personal computer processor market. This helped Intel in diversifying its product portfolio. The idea of using this name wasnt successful instantaneously and Intel had to face low figures in terms of sales in early years, but this strategy worked in the long term. Due to this brand name Intel was able to dominate PC market for a long time and had the largest market share in this market.

3. Suppose you were the chief Marketing Officer for AMD. How would you propose that AMD institute an Inside like ad campaign? It is an easy option for AMDs marketing officer to imitate Intel Inside like ad campaign, but there are few realities and constraints that have to be accounted. First of all AMD is not anywhere near Intel in terms of its size and financial muscle. To purse and ad campaign like that of Intel, a strong financial

Abdullah Bikiya ERP : 03412 backing is needed and a company which is half the size of Intel can not take such a big risk by using a large proportion of its finances on ad campaigns. Rather than setting up an Intel inside like campaign, as chief marketing officer of AMD, I would focus more on educating users about the specification and strengths of AMD processor. To follow up this, I would promote the AMD processors by entering into long term contracts with OEMs at lower prices compared to my rivals. This strategy will best fit a company like AMD as this will ensure that a customer is aware of its product and is pulled towards AMD processors due to the qualities attached with AMD processors rather than strong ad campaigns. Also long term contracts with OEMs will ensure continuous cash flow and will allow AMD to go for an even stronger campaign in the future.

4. Evaluate Intels segmentation strategy. Is having a good/better/best product line the best positioning for Intel. Should it discontinue a line(s) and focus on the other(s). Through its segmentation strategy, Intel is able to cover all the market segments. It is a good strategy as it allows Intel to tap a large amount of the total market share. If Intel had limited its product line to only good products or only best products then it would have lost market shares of other market segments. Also the brand name of Intel and the equity that it owns makes each product line of Intel stand out amongst competitors in their respective market segments. Seeing the success of this strategy, it is not recommended to discontinue any product line.

5. In light of Intels move to a digital home, did the companys executives make the right decision in launching an entirely new brand identity? Did it make the right decision in changing a 37 year old Intel logo and dropping the Intel inside campaign for Leap Ahead? What other marketing strategies might the company employ? This decision of dropping the intel inside campaign for a leap ahead is largely due to the industry in which Intel is categorized. The technology arena is the most rapidly evolving industry in the world. To keep up with this pace, every company in this industry, regardless of how big it is, has to evolve continuously and synchronize itself with the speed of the industry. If it fails to do so, it will certainly lose its market share and may be driven out of the industry. Nokia is an example of a mighty company that failed to synchronized its speed of evolution with the speed that its industry was developing and as a result this giant had to lose a significant market share and was taken over by another company. Considering these factors, although Intel had invested in its successful inside campaign, it had to drop it for a larger goal. To make consumers aware of this change and the time that consumers will take to

Abdullah Bikiya ERP : 03412 adapt to this change will be a tough period for Intel but as experienced with Pentium, this strategy will also reap long term results. To complement this change, Intel should try to make good relationship with the customers aswell. Focusing too much on the product and brand itself will not help Intel achieve its goal and a competitor may use this opportunity to bypass Intel.

6. Intel moved into consumer electronics products, such as digital cameras in 2000, only to withdraw after receiving complaints from OEMs such as Dell. Does Intel face a similar issue with its move into the digital home? Does this move too far outside Intels core competency of producing microprocessors?

Intels move into the consumer electronic market in 2000 was a complete failure and the company had to suffer monetary losses as well as loss in its brand equity. But the circumstances at that time and the market that Intel tried to enter that time are quite different from digital home idea. Intel is well known for its powerful and reliable processors. To enter into a completely separate market which has got its own giants was a wrong decision. Also at that time this market wasnt changing at the pace it is changing today and was dominated by few big giants only. The digital home idea does not lie far from Intels core competency and the association of power and reliability with Intels name reduces the chance of failure of digital home.