Warning: Intel's Ultrabook Marketing is "Cinematic and Epic"
Get ready to be bombarded with commercials and print ads promoting Intel's Ultrabook form factor.
Intel's new push for Ultrabooks will be the company's largest campaign since the big Intel Centrino campaign of 2003, the company said on Wednesday.
Starting this week, consumers will be bombarded with television commercials, online experiences and print ads that Intel is hailing as "cinematic and epic." The multi-faceted global campaign will be called "A New Era of Computing" and aimed to market the Ultrabook form factor experience as a new "exciting and innovative" way to work and play.
"'A New Era of Computing' is going to be very different from what you’ve seen from Intel in a long time," said Kevin Sellers, vice president, Sales and Marketing Group and director, Advertising and Digital Marketing. "This is not a campaign where we’re talking about the microprocessor or Intel the company. Instead, we’re giving a cinematic and epic feel to how Intel-inspired Ultrabook systems are ushering in a new era of computing and making everything else seem like ancient history."
The initial spots will set out to make your desktop look like a dried up tombstone, set in the American Old West, ancient China and medieval times. The Ultrabook will shine like fresh alien technology delivered straight from the heavens while sweeping aside the old-school solutions we use today. The spots were directed by Daniel Kleinman, a British TV commercial and music video director who also helmed the title sequence for several James Bond movies.
"Desperado" will debut on April 6 after a world premiere through paid promotion on Twitter. "House of Flying Laptops" will highlight Ultrabooks’ extended battery life while nodding to stylish martial arts films like "House of Flying Daggers" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." The third commercial, "Round Table," will be set inside a medieval European castle and underscore Ultrabooks' small form factor and high performance.
Each ad ends with a metaphoric twist as the original ancient setting transforms to a modern-day one," Intel said. A voiceover at the end says, "Suddenly, everything else seems old-fashioned. Ultrabook. Inspired by Intel."
The three commercials will be staggered through May in the United States and abroad. However the campaign will allow consumers to interact with the spots online starting mid-April. "We’re expanding the stories of the commercials, making them more personalized, fun and sharable," Sellers said. "Nothing like this has been done on such an epic scale. We shot scenes for the interactive experience as we were making the commercials in Spain and China to ensure that what you see on TV and online will be beautifully interwoven."
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Print ads that debut on April 23 in initial markets will suggest how futuristic the Ultrabook is, the company said.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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p05esto Lame idea Intel. Instead of bashing desktops (your bread and butter), why not just show how equally nice and useful the ultrabooks are? They sure are nicer and more functional (and durable) than tablets. A nice form factor with a built in screen protector (lol) and a real keyboard... wow, amazing. Tablets suck for anything but surfing the web, casual games and very short email replies.Reply -
DSpider "Ultrabook" is such a stupid name. There's nothing "ultra" about them! The Macbook Air has been around since 2008 or so with their whole "Ooh, look at me, I can fit into an envelope" ads, and they're just now coming up with this crap?Reply
Sorry, Intel. You missed your window there, buddy... -
-Fran- So this is the best they come up with? Cowboy and Aliens? I thought they had cash to spare, but this is plain throwing it down the drain.Reply
I think this money would've been better spent making the notebooks cheaper for OEMs and consumers.
Cheers! -
annymmo We really have actually no need for something between a tablet and a normal notebook.Reply
This ultrabook stuff are just light laptops.
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jdamon113 Dspider intel did not miss anything when it comes to the air. Its intel inside.Reply
What they have missed or have not yet tried is the Pads.
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MKBL Marketing should have solid footing in reality to bring in sustainable success. I doubt the Ultrabook concept will carry such epic advantage or leapfrog advancement to end users eventually. I'm scratching my head while trying to find anything new there. If this Ultrabook had come to market 5 years earlier with the same price level, I might be bought up by the cinematic and epic marketing. Now that I get used to many under- $900 performance laptops, this is nothing but to squeeze the market in order to compensate dipping pocket due to sagging market growth.Reply -
scannall At the bottom line, Intel doesn't care who makes the computers with their CPU's. A sale to Apple or a Sale to Asus is the same to them. The Ultrabook concept was a nice idea, to get people thinking about something that computer manufacturers could actually turn a profit on for a change. But the race to the bottom, with all the cheap crappy parts that entails got started way too fast for it to have any real impact.Reply