WSJ: Intel's Game: Play It Local, But Make IT Global

[Info]

Intel's Game: Play It Local,
But Make It Global

Chip Maker Launches Ads
For Centrino With a Mix
Of Celebrities World-Wide

By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 30, 2005; Page B4

Multinational marketers are often torn between making ads global and making them local. Intel wants the best of both worlds.

In a campaign that launched in eight countries this week, including the U.S., China, and the United Kingdom, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker uses six celebrities from the entertainment and sporting worlds to promote its Centrino wireless computer chips. Intel settled on six personalities it thought would be broadly recognized in key world markets, says Sean Connolly, Intel's global advertising manager.

But Intel isn't relying on the personalities to be all things in all markets. One of the stars chosen, for example -- Hong Kong actor Tony Leung -- appears only in the spots destined for China. In other countries, different combinations of the other five celebrities will appear in ads.

"We found that if people were able to place one or two of the celebrities, they caught on to the concept pretty well," says Mr. Connolly.

All of the ads, running on television as well as print, outdoor and other media, show the stars sitting on the laps of ordinary laptop computer users -- a jokey way of saying that a Centrino chip gives consumers the equivalent of having the entertainer right in your lap. Aside from Mr. Leung, the celebrities include actors John Cleese and Lucy Liu, singer Seal, pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and British soccer star Michael Owen.

The campaign, made by Interpublic Group's McCann Worldgroup, is Intel's answer to a problem that has long vexed big marketers: Should advertising be local, global or somewhere in between? Companies such as McDonald's and Procter & Gamble use local and pan-regional techniques in international markets to push their offerings. Coca-Cola has swung back and forth between local and global ads.

Intel's double-duty approach is a departure for a technology company, as they tend to rely on a single global campaign designed to unify the messages seen by travelers, Web surfers and company employees alike. For example, Apple Computer pitches its iPod digital music player with the same dancing silhouette ads in Beijing as in Boston.

But one-size-fits-all is a pickle in Asia and other important developing markets, where ads that don't make sense across different cultures can translate into bad business. So in the end, while Intel sought a global cast of characters for its new ads, it added a little special something for the huge Chinese market.

In an ad campaign launching this week, Intel uses six personalities in various combinations, including a Chinese actor who appears only in spots destined for China.

Mr. Leung, speaking Chinese and appearing in the Intel ad with two of the other celebs, is the only one to film his segment in a language other than English. When the ads play in other markets, the voices will be dubbed into local languages, a common industry practice for global ads. Intel plans to roll out additional local personalities for markets such as France, Italy and South Korea in future TV, online and print extensions of the campaign.

Mr. Leung's selection shows how much Asian markets have changed since Japanese ad agencies famously began hiring faded American celebrities to pitch products in the 1980s. Now accustomed to booming domestic entertainment industries, Asian customers want to see Asian heroes.

"It's all part of Asia looking to itself more and more as the place where cool things come from," says Dave McCaughan, executive vice president and director of strategic planning at McCann-Erickson in Tokyo.

[Guest]

Info - thank you for the post - and it better explains the ad! Bummed that Tony didn't tape in English and that it isn't planned for show in US where I live (I have NEVER heard of Tony Hawk, let alone Michael Owen - I think Tony would be just as recognized as them here - so IF I see an ad here with either of those two - I'll really be miffed). But it should be very good for Tony and fun for Tony's fans in Asia to see.

[news]

The gist of the article from INTERFAX-CHINA newspaper is similiar to WSJ.

"Tony Leung endorses Intel's Centrino mobile products in China to attract 'tech families'
http://www.interfax.cn/showfeature.asp?aid=6125&slug=INTEL-%20AD%20CAMPAIGN

[Broken Sword]

thanks for that information, it's a shame that he wont appear on the uk verson if anyone can get a link to the ad please can you let me know. I love him in a suit he looks realy smart

[Pungyo]

Hi Guest,

Michael Owen is an English soccer player... Tony Hawk made skate boarding an industry... there are even video games by his name. (How do I know this? I have a son.)

-K
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Post nubila, Phoebus.