Intel Inside is out. The world's biggest chipmaker said yesterday it would scrap its 37-year-old logo and well-known tagline as part of a major rebranding project that will emphasise a shift away from its core PC business into consumer products.
The original Intel logo featuring a lowered "e" will be replaced with one showing an oval swirl surrounding the company's name.
The phrase "Leap ahead" will supplant "Intel Inside", which brought the Silicon Valley giant into public awareness in the 1990s and helped it to become one of the world's best recognised brands, worth about $36 billion (€29.7 billion), according to consultancy Interbrand.
The company said that although the "Intel Inside" tagline would disappear, it would retain a marketing programme with that name in which Intel helps PC makers to advertise products that use its chips.
Chief executive Paul Otellini is set to unveil details of the campaign during next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which features a plethora of upcoming gadgets from digital music players to wearable lamps.
Intel is counting on the consumer appetite for digital media and networking to drive business as the PC market slows and as rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) makes inroads into the markets for laptop and server computers. The brand overhaul also puts a new face on an internal shift accelerated since Mr Otellini took the helm in May.
"This is essentially the extension of the Otellini legacy, moving the platform strategy up through full marketing of the firm," said Eric Ross, analyst with ThinkEquity Partners, who has "buy" ratings on Intel and AMD.
The changes take the focus off individual chips and put it on "platforms" that the company hopes will spur the integration of Intel-based computers with digital media and networks in homes, businesses and schools.
The new campaign also plays down Intel's venerable Pentium brand while emphasising its Centrino line of laptop chips and a new effort called "Viiv", which aims to integrate PCs into home entertainment by methods such as recording TV shows and sending them to other devices.
"The reason they are doing this is they need to move away from the PC to being a solution provider. The real growth for the next five years is cell phones, and for the next 10 years is probably consumer electronics, and Intel has done a really poor job of penetrating those areas," said Mr Ross.
Intel also revealed that its new chip for laptop computers, so far known as Yonah, will be marketed as Core. That processor, a key part of Viiv, will debut next year and will be a major product launch as Intel seeks to regain ground in the mobile market against AMD.
The brand overhaul comes just weeks after the company elevated Eric Kim to the role of chief marketing officer.
