Intel Stays Inside: Advertising Within

Computer company Intel has decided to reach consumers within their own product. The familiar "Intel inside" logo will soon be seen more frequently online and less often through traditional media. Intel, along with partners in the "Intel inside" cooperative advertising program, have decided to shift ad dollars to newer media like the Internet and away from older media like television and print.

According to Herald Tribune article, 'Intel inside' ad campaign shifts focus to the Web, in 2008, Intel will require companies that take part in the co-op program to spend a minimum of 35 percent of the advertising money that Intel products them on online marketing. Companies involved in Intel's co-op program include giants like Dell, HP, IBM, Toshiba and Sony.

This seems to make perfect sense, as Intel itself is a computer program. Marketing using the tools of its own product appears as if it will only reinforce the purchase and name of Intel. According to executives at Intel, research shows that consumers are turning more to online media when they consider buying products like those with Intel microprocessors, such as desktop and notebook computers.

"For the longest time, consumers formed their attitudes through TV, print and radio," explains Sean Maloney, an executive vice president at Intel in Santa Clara, California. "In the past year, there appears to be an acceleration of attitude-forming and opinion-forming online, instead of in the traditional media, and we have to respond appropriately."

A survey of how consumers were influenced in their buying decisions conducted by Intel this year shows that three or four our of the top five influences have something to do with online media, including search engines, blogs, and web sites.

TV and print do play a role, according to Maloney, but once researching a purchase, consumers need to be engaged in a deeper way.

As a result of this research, more than 50 percent of Intel's own ads will appear online, an increase from a 15 percent presence two years ago. This is a huge amount as Intel spends about $300 million a year worldwide on its own advertising.

Spending ad money on online media has been growing rapidly as users have changed in the way they consume media. In one year, Internet ad revenue has increased nearly 27 percent. This is an incredible shift in media spending, only projected to increase more as technology and user capability develop. Intel's 35 percent online requirement only reinforces this fact, showing how far online advertising has come.

In an age when the consumer is the most important component of the market equation, the internet is an incredible global tool. A mass amount of information is readily available and people are becoming more and more experienced in how to obtain it. When in the market for a computer, or other Intel products, the internet is a great resource to researching, comparing, and purchasing. Intel has recognized this and taken advantage of it by going exactly where their consumer is and using their own name as a promotion.

From anywhere in the world, consumers and industry meet in this internet market to buy and sell their products. The movement of advertisers into utilizing this media serves to show the world just a small bit of what the internet is capable of. A literal "web," we are all connected, engaged, and open to new and diverse information. Taking advantage of the business and advertising opportunities offered through the internet now will only mean great things as the internet and its capabilities expand in coming years.