Intel Corp., whose marketing made its computer chips a household name, is changing its logo for the first time in 37 years to help promote its push beyond personal computers.
The dropped "e" in Intel will be shed in favor of a swoop around the company's name with the tag line "Leap Ahead." The "Intel Inside" phrase, a fixture since 1991, will be dropped, the company, based in Santa Clara, Calif., said Thursday.
Intel's image change, to coincide with this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is part of an effort by new Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini to expand Intel into home entertainment. The company, whose processors run more than 80 percent of personal computers, is trying to gain a foothold in the consumer market to counter slowing growth in PC chips.
"'Intel Inside' is one of the great ones, one of the most brilliant marketing strategies in the last 10 years," said Peter Sealey, former head of marketing for Coca-Cola Co. who now runs Los Altos Group, a California-based management consultant. "Now they achieved awareness, it's over and they need to move on."
The change in Intel's brand is the first step in a $2.5 billion marketing campaign, BusinessWeek reported earlier, without making clear where it got the information. Intel spokesman Bill Calder declined to comment on the number.
Intel also plans to introduce a new chip, which will be called "Core," to complement its Centrino laptop and Viiv home entertainment components.
After averaging growth of more than 13 percent for three years, Intel is expected to increase sales 8 percent next year to about $42.3 billion, according to analysts' estimates.
Intel marketing chief Eric Kim, hired in September 2004 from Samsung Electronics Co., outlined a plan to dump "Intel Inside" at an Oct. 20 meeting of company executives, Calder said.
Kim, Intel's first chief marketing officer, was brought in by Otellini, 55, to oversee the creation of a new image and catch phrase. He is credited with helping Samsung transform its image from that of a maker of cheap household appliances to having a brand more valuable than Sony Corp.'s.
McCann Worldgroup, a unit of Interpublic Group of Cos., was picked by Intel in March to run a global advertising campaign promoting the Viiv chips for home entertainment devices. Havas SA had handled Intel's advertising business.
"Intel has been struggling to find a way out of PCs for the last six or seven years," said Eric Ross, an analyst at ThinkEquity Partners in New York, who rates the stock "buy" and doesn't own it. "I never dreamed they'd drop 'Intel Inside.' Their marketing has been exceptionally successful."