Intel rebrands for CES

At the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Intel is officially unveiling its new logo and legend. Gone is the familiar swirling dropped ‘e’ logo and ‘Intel Inside’ and in comes a familiar swirl, a slightly more digital looking ‘Intel’ and the new motto ‘Leap Ahead’.

While the new design may not look like much, it is the first time it has changed since the company began its advance into microelectronics 37 years ago. Intel is also rated as the world’s fifth most recognisable brand, so we can be sure that a great deal of work went into the new branding before its formal debut.

The new look and logo is said to reflect the new positioning of Intel as a leading-edge platform developer rather than just a manufacturer of processors. The decision to change the marketing follows the reorganisation of the company into five businesses just under a year ago. This move in turn had been prompted by the success of the Centrino mobile platform for wireless notebooks.

More interestingly is the new tagline ‘Intel, Leap Ahead’ replacing the old Intel Inside legend. The old legend was developed at a time when compatibility with the IBM PC standard was not taken for granted as it is today and ‘Intel Inside’ not only gave some degree of reassurance that PC software would run properly, it also set the company apart as a technology leader in microprocessors when x86 clone manufacturers like AMD were running to catch up.

The new tagline is intended to emphasise Intel’s leadership in microelectronics while making it much more consumer friendly as it gears up to launch the new ViiV technology for the digital home in the coming months. As Eric Kim, Intel senior Vice President and general manager of the Sales and Marketing Group puts it: ‘This evolution will allow Intel to be better recognised for our contributions, establish a stronger emotional connection with our audiences, and strengthen our overall position in the marketplace.’

Meanwhile PC manufacturers who have used the (and been handsomely subsidised in their advertising) the Intel Inside logo will still get to use ‘Inside’ although this has been subsumed into individual brands such as ‘Centrino Inside’ and ‘Pentium 4 Inside’. Hopefully, we may see the end of that irritating jingle at the end of every Dell ad.