Intel Multiplies in Social Media
September 26th, 2006
Intel just launched their new “Mulptiply” campaign to support their Core2Duo processor technology. The campaign includes a significant traditional media investment for the company, but is complimented by efforts on MySpace and YouTube. I had the pleasure of exchanging emails with the woman behind these extensions and she was kind enough to share some of her thoughts with this blog’s readers. Without further ado…
5 Questions with Intel’s Viral Marketing Guru Elizabeth Lin
1. What do you see as the opportunity for big brands in social media?
We have always believed that word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools that a marketer can have. The booming popularity of social media has fundamentally changed the way we approach viral marketing. Now we have more ways to reach consumers that we might not have reached before, but we also need to make sure that we are doing it in an entertaining, non-intrusive way. We are very aware that positive feelings can spread just as fast as negative ones.
2. What are the major goals of your YouTube and MySpace campaign extensions?
We wanted to give the audience a fun and interactive way to learn about our products, Intel® Core™2 Duo processor and Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology. This was also our first foray into adopting social media in our marketing programs and we are learning a lot.
3. How are you driving traffic to your YouTube channel and MySpace site? Are you placing the URLs in other marketing (online or offline)?
For the Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology effort on MySpace (www.myspace.com/centrinoduo), we bought banners on the site to help drive traffic. We tried a different approach with the Intel® Core™2 Duo program on YouTube and MySpace (www.youtube.com/IntelVlog). Because our latest TV ads feature cool, new bands such as the Teddy Bears and New Young Pony Club, we were able to reach out to their fan base through their pages on MySpace (www.myspace.com/teddybears, www.myspace.com/newyoungponyclub).
4. I like the personal tone of the CentrinoDuo processor on MySpace. Allow me to wax philosophical, if a processor can have friends, can it also blog and podcast? Do you plan to extend the “voice” to other modes of conversation on the site?
There are no current plans to do so but hey, you have just given us some great ideas!
5. Why did you choose to launch your ads on YouTube prior to launching on broadcast? Were the results what you expected?
We think our new TV ads are very fun and have great potential to be viral. We thought it would be great to give the consumers a sneak preview to these videos and YouTube had proven to be a great vehicle. We have seen great results to date, and we can’t wait to do more similar programs!
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Elizabeth’s answers give me hope that big brands truly are looking at social media as a way of opening dialogue with their customers and not just a cheaper way to distribute 1-way messages. Let us know what you think in the comments.
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Steve Hershberger says:
Vee Dub-
One of my favorite quotes is ‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.’
WOM is all about telegraphing and sharing an experience…It’s about involvement.
For most of us in the general population, it isn’t about the chip. It’s about what the chip allows us to do. Like Confucius said, ‘I do and I understand.’
Thanks for the interview. Well done to both you and to Elizabeth.
September 27th, 2006 at 12:03 pm