Phase Two of Intel's Centrino Campaign Gets Personal
Online and offline ads focus on consumers' personal lives.
The blue and magenta logo of Intel’s Centrino wireless chip will get quite a workout in the second phase of the company’s estimated $300 million “Unwire” campaign rolling out Monday.
The logo soars above the clouds, cuts through a clutter of wires and climbs up an earnings chart, among other things, in a variety of online and offline ads focusing on mobile PC consumers’ lifestyles. The first phase centered on users’ work lives.
“The entire online campaign focuses on the Centrino logo, bringing it to life. We have executions for finance Web sites with a growth chart where the line goes up and to the right and eventually maxes out at the Centrino logo with the tagline, ‘If only your portfolio performed this well,'” said Sean Connolly of Intel.
The Centrino wireless chip links laptops to the Internet through 802.11 technology without the need for an additional adapter. The technology, also known as Wi-Fi, connects computers to the Internet without a phone line, and is boosting sales of notebooks with Centrino, analysts have said. The number of users of hotspots providing Wi-Fi connections will grow to 30 million worldwide this year from 9.3 million last year, according to Gartner.
The ads debuting Monday will be on TV, with the print and online portion of the campaign kicking off in March. The overall campaign includes interactive, broadcast, print and outdoor ads and will run in 12 countries.
The “Unwire” campaign’s first phase started in March 2003. This phase focused on the workplace. A sample tagline: “Intel will not only change how you work, but where you work.”
“We’re approaching people now as consumers, with their personal hat on, in our new campaign,” said Connolly. “We started with the early adopter core in business. Now individuals can take advantage [of Wi-Fi technology] as hot spots and home networks proliferate.”
The online ads include streaming video within skyscraper ads as well as conventional banners and paid search ads with Yahoo, Google and Overture.
Ads will appear on fashion, entertainment, epicurean, technology, business and sports sites. Executions will vary depending on the venue, Connolly said.
“Uncork serious power,” will be a tagline for ads on wine and epicurean sites, and “it’s a wireless slam dunk,” will be used on sports sites. Intel has lined up sponsorship packages on some sports Web sites, and will be running ads on NCAA college basketball sites.
The television, print, online and outdoor advertising will run through June, and was created by Euro RSCG MVBMS in New York.
The first phase kicked off with some wacky promotions, including magenta-clad messengers with computers strapped to their chests. Connolly would not say if anything comparable was in store for the second phase.
“There’s nothing firm about doing more outside-the-box stuff,” he said. But, he added, “we’ll have the magenta jumpsuits ready, just in case.”
