New Intel Ad – “Our Stupid Ideas Aren’t Like Your Stupid Ideas”
Advertiser: Intel Corporation – (originally INTegrated ELectronics Corp)
Product: No Specific Product – Master Brand
Advertisement: Theme – Our big ideas aren’t like your big ideas
Advertising Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Intel is a powerful company, both in terms of computing power and branding power. They have one of the most recognizable jingles in the world, a five-note, three second wonder along with the “Intel Inside” mark.
But when it comes to TV commercials, Intel has had some challenges getting it right, despite throwing wheelbarrows full of cash at it. This campaign is no different. According to the New York Times, Intel could spend between $50 million and $150 million this year on master brands advertising.
I mean come on, this is INTEL, the company with some of the smartest people in the world. The word INTELLIGENCE was named after their company. Moore’s Law was named after founder Gordon Moore, who discovered that when in comes to microprocessor capacity, Intels profits will double every two years.
Our Stupid Ideas Aren’t Like Your Stupid Ideas
$150 MILLION on branding this year?? I’m not too smart, but that sounds like a lot of money to make stupid commercials and proclaim themselves as ”Sponsors of Tomorrow”.
For that kind of money we could bring back Elvis (who as everyone knows has been cryogenically preserved and is scheduled for a spring thaw next year when the economy improves). We’ll even insert one of Intel’s latest processors instead of the hip replacement surgery he’s been needing and we’ll have his trick pelvis fully restored. AND we’ll put him on tour. Chicks will love it and Intel will ROCK.
The Commercial
In this commercial from May 2009, we find everyone on the floor seemingly in a praying position worshipping the pagan god Pentius. Then we come to find out somebody in the front of the room has dropped something – something really really teeny and some of the smartest people in the world in the back of the room are too stupid to realize that there is no way something really teeny could ever fall that far away, but they’re looking for it quietly back there anyway.
And just when I breathe a sigh of relief that they found whatever the hell had them all on the floor, they all clap and the next thing you know, they’re all standing there as a group and they’re singing to me. Only the smartest people in the world are too stupid to realize they can’t sing. And what’s worse, I’m not even sure all of them know the words because they’re not all in sync and I don’t get the sense that anyone instructed them whether to sing “bum”, “pum”, or “DUMB”. And the smartest people in the world have just butchered Intel’s jingle that they’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars promoting and preserving.
And by now, I am deeply concerned, because this whole singing thing is starting to remind me of one of those stupid foot long singing commercials. But that’s a story for another day…
I really like your commercial reviews, even if I do not agree. Like, I like the Kash ones because I think they are cute and funny. Regardless, I respect you opinion, and you are really entertaining and have a lot of information. I really like your blog and how you present your blogs, definitely intreging(:
What the hell kind of a remark was that? The commercials are witty, clean & vastly appealing to their target audience. That is the purpose of advertising! This series of adds (albeit expensive) are hilariously funny, especially the one with Ajay Bhatt (co-inventor of the USB stick) indicative of the uniqueness & intellectual value of the nerd’s rock idol, which is also a humorous poke at themselves, allowing for an even broader audience to empathize. Regarding the company’s logo hook, the complexity & reliance on luck, skill & feel to compose that 5 note lick is astounding. Such brilliance as who could write memorable jingles under a few seconds long is few & far between. As for the A Capella adaption of it, again the purpose is sarcastic & humorous, thus making themselves more appealing when mentally relating their products to the advertisements in a decision when purchasing their products. as is their intent. You sir, are a pooper.
Actually, I happen to like the spot featuring Ajay Bhatt except for the ending. And I do agree the jingle is brilliant, practically a work of art made even more so by the estimated $250 million they spent just to launch it and the hundreds of millions since that help us recognize it instantly. As for this particular spot, we must agree to disagree. I commend your passion and eloquence in making a strong point, but opinions are just like poopers, everyone’s got one and no two are identical.