from the Financial Times
Intel, the world's leading chipmaker, got into the business of building global brands almost by accident.
For Intel, the lights went on in 1989. An advertising campaign aimed at getting computer manufacturers to change its latest processor, the 386, had the surprising side effect of persuading consumers to ask for 386-based computers.
"At that time," says Dennis Carter, Intel vice-president and director of marketing, "I didn't really know what a brand was. But it became evident that we had created a brand and that it made a difference in consumers' purchase plans."
The next step was to brand not merely one product but the whole range, using the now-familiar "Intel inside" logo. Intel launched the campaign in 1991 with its first "cooperative advertising" programme, offering to share the costs of advertising with computer manufacturers that used Intel chips.
Soon after came the first "Intel inside" TV commercial: a journey through the inside of a personal computer, ending up at the microprocessor with Intel's logo.
It had become the first semiconductor company to sell its product to consumers as though it were a new cola.
Intel initially tailored its advertising to different markets. In Japan, for example, the logo read "Intel in it" but this was abandoned when the company found the "Intel inside" brand was better recognised because of information from the US. "This really drove home the idea that the PC market is the same everywhere in the world," says Mr. Carter.
Since then, its logo has appeared in more than $3.4 billion (2.1 billion pounds) worth of advertising, including spending by PC manufacturers, according to Intel.