Tech-Marketing by shivani IVIody

Intel - The Inside Story

S
urfing through online videos you might bump provided at the end of the trainings acts as an accredi-
into this one: A kid hanging a PC from a hanger. tation. "Competitors do it only when they have money.
tied to a long rope on his windowsill. Lightning We are consistent with our products and trainings,"
strikes and blows it up. Don't be surprised^—it's just a informs McClure. Tie-ups with OEMs like LG, Zenith,
kid being creative in the Intel viral marketing cam- Lenovo, HCL and Wipro Technologies to sell their
paign. The campaign runs 7 0 / ways to get rid of your products—helped Intel reach a larger market.
old PC—so your mom or boss can buy vou a new one Companies in turn develop their own brand value and
with core 2 duo. 'This is one of Intel's marketing strate- get support with their sales and marketing programs
gies for the eore 2 duo proeessor. from Intel.
In tune with its online marketing program, it fore-
sees a separate website for Intel India, grabbing atten- Products: Pushing The Envelope
tion with Intel advertisements leading them to localized Added to these marketing strategics. Intel's India
content. While spreading the marketing tentacles Development Center develops products specific to the
offline, Intel is closely following the 4Ps of market- Indian continent. For example, for rural areas it has
ing-Product, Price, Plaee (distribution) and Promotion. developed a eommunity PC that can function in hot and
dusty conditions and runs on a car battery for eight
Place: Making Inroads hours. They have an in-built remote management sys-
"Unique to India is the Plaee—the distribution chan- tem to save on the cost of a meehanic.
nels. And over the years we have developed dealer con- "Indians want the best technology for every penny
sistency establishing a unique breadth in the market," invested. They demand a full system at the price of Rs.
says John McClure, Director-Marketing and 10,000," assesses McClure. This led to the develop-
Operations for Intel, South Asia. The fragmented ment of the 'Affordable P C , lookitig more like a DVD
Indian market compels companies to go through chan-
nel partners to make inroads. With over 3000 active
channel partners, Intel has penetrated more cities than
competitors. They con-
stantly work with chan-
nel partners by giving
them good products
and increase their
margins.
Intel acts as a
partner with dealers
giving them cover
for their marketing
and advertising eam-
paigns. They conduct
training sessions for these "There is an increased flow of money for marketing.
dealers twice a year to And we have to innovate to share the marketing voice,"
reduce the dealers' John McClure.
cost of staff Director - Marketing and Operations for Intel, South Asia.
training. The
'Genuine player, having a mobile proeessor. Size, power con-
I n t e l sumption and noise were minimized with this product.
Dealer'
For the future, Intel has designed a new
(GID) cer-
product—Classroom PC, aimed at public school stu-
t i ficat e
dents to communicate faster with eacb other.

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Intel
3.0GhzlLGA775)533ilMBI524
3.D6Ghzll£A775l533i1MBf524
3.2 GhzlLGA 7751 800flM8(541
1.86GhzE630a/1066f2MBCDte2DiJO
2.13 Ghz E6400/106EI2 MB Core 2 Duo
2.4 Ghz E6600/1066f4 MB Core 2 Duo
Core 2 ExtremE XSeQO 2.93 Ghz
Note: Prices mentioned above are as of Nov. 2006, nan-inclusive of taxes.
These are approx. figures anri subject to change.
With India's growing wireless
networks having datacard system
connected via cellular networks,
Intel sees wireless as the hottest
area. It has designed a platform
having a module for connecting to
the wireless WAN system—to be
launched next year.
Price: Expensive But Sought After
In spite of competitors having
cheaper products. Intel is still the
leader in India because of its strong
brand image. "The Indian buyer has
become more affluent, and the
brand re-call has helped us a great
deal," says McClure.
Promotion: Being Visible
Intel has launched a SI billion, five-
year initiative known as 'World
Ahead Program' in May 2006., look-
ing to increase digital literacy, edu-
cation, community outreach,
research and development.
It is working closely with the
Govemment to improve rural edu-
cation and to lower healthcare
costs. It has co-developed
Baramati's first digital hospital by
I n t e l s a w a d e c l i n e in t h e i r m a r k e t
share due to t h e following reasons
• They faced supply related problems, wbich
lead to 3 decrease in sales.
• There was a drop In market share whenever they
were in the process of a transition, moving ffom
1(86 to Pentium and to Intel Core 2 Duo micro
architecture.
• One major factor for the decline was that their
price was higher than the competitor's offerings.
Rupees Rupees AMD
4)50 2910 2800 sEMpnarti (AM2I
Athlon
30Q0164bli) 939pin
4150 3900 3200 (64bit| 939pin Attiton
4600 4150 3500 (64bitl 939pin Athlon
8690 8180 3600 X2 Dual Core AM2
neoo 10575 4200X2 Dual Core 2.2 Gh;
56100 11250 4600 X2 0ual Core 2.4 Gh2
48375 37125 FX • 62 2.B Ghz
providing WiMAX network and a
telemedicine program. The plan
includes the donation of 10,000
PCs to state governments and train-
ing one million teaehers. It has col-
laborated with other technology
companies, setting up high-speed
Internet network connecting the
community computer centers and
public kiosks. The tangible bottom-
line benefits: Producing millions of
potential PC consumers. And yes.
"People feel other company products give value for money. Intel
has itself given competitors the opportunity to grow,"
Vinay Mehta, a computer warehouse distributor in Bangalore.
inside the PCs lies the Intel micro-
processor.
"There is an increased flow of
money for marketing. And we have
to innovate to share the marketing
voice," says McClure. Twenty per-
cent of the marketing expenses is
allocated for pilot projects.
Strategies like Intel advertisements
on school buses and hoardings are
proving to be good communicators.
Currently Intel is experimenting
with viral marketing, where stu-
dents be creative and post online
videos spreading the word. It is also
teaming up with cyber cafe chains
to have onscreen advertisements.
The data at the end of the quarter
will decide Intel's next strategy.
However, the company believes
that traditional marketing strategies
like PR campaigns have worked
best for them. TV campaigns and
displays at the eommunity center
showing the PC for fun and educa-
tion have proved to be powerful
sales campaigns. "Intel has better
marketing strategies, they hold the
market due to this." says C. Yogesh,
a private cybercafe owner and a PC
assembler in Bangalore.
Why The Slip?
In spite of having the advantage,
Intel has seen a decline in market
share. In the 02,'06 it had
decreased to 78.6 percent from 82.2
percent in QI,'O6. The nearest com-
petitor AMD has been gaining in
the market reaching a high of 23
percent.
On the Intel versus AMD front,
software engineers from the IT
industry comment that AMD prod-
ucts show better performance in
terms of graphics, games and video
conferencing. The G4 graphics card
in gaming goes well with AMD
processor, they added. "Comparing
technical details, people feel AMD
gives value for money. Intel has
itself given competitors the oppor-
tunity to grow," perceives Vinay
Mehta, a computer warehouse
owner in Bangalore.
Intel has already started work-
ing on newer processors to make
them faster and more efficient.
Supporting this, Paul Otellini,
CEO, Intel informed that it would
change its micro-architecture every
two years rather than four like in
the past to regain their market
share.
Intel for the last 17 years has
been the lone player in the game,
enjoying the benefits of being an
early starter. Now the technology
leader faces the challenge of sus-
taining its success. 0
9!) IBG Jan 2006 07