technology companies often want to emulate Intel's success in moving from a hidden ingredient in the personal computer to a brand that consumers recognize, value, and would rather pay a premium for. For most, however, that the journey is a task much easier said than done.
On the surface, the Intel Inside campaign seems simple genius. Pull out a few million bucks for some well-placed television commercials, and in no time consumers will be insisting that your customers put their name on the outside of your product, right? If only it were that simple. What most people do not realize that the extraordinary success of the Intel Inside campaign - or any campaign that seeks to transform commodities into recognizable consumer brand - based on two very important principles
.First, it requires funding to support a lengthy consumer-oriented campaign. You can not create a brand name overnight. Second, and more importantly, it requires the end-user dimension value consumers actually viewed as important. Without both of these elements, branding campaign will not have enough muscle to convince consumers that are looking for your product above all others.
Let's solve the problem of money in the first place. The latest Intel spends about $ 1 billion annually on advertising cooperation with its major customers such as Dell and HP. Add to that the $ 1 billion Intel's customers spend and total expenditure for the financial support of the Intel Inside brand comes close to $ 2 billion annually. Or, as they say in business, serious money.
In general, Intel matches every dollar our clients spend on advertising that mentions the Intel Inside brand. For example, those hundreds of millions of advertising circulars that Dell sent each year? Intel absorbs about half its price. In fact, every time I see the Intel Inside logo and Intel Inside hear a sonic brand, you know that Intel pays for about half the cost of marketing. This huge financial commitment is one reason why Intel brand stands out from the crowd and why technologists simply point to it as one of their favorite brands.
For use by end users, the key word here is "perception." In this case, Intel has successfully persuaded enough consumers to a computer with an Intel chip inside is the fastest available and therefore can handle any application can throw at it. As a result, consumers perceive the real value of the Intel brand, which is why the vast majority of computers rolling production lines that are known to carry a sticker on the outside. Intel Inside
Also, any technology product or commodity ingredient that hopes to develop a strong brand so consumers have to convince the public to buy their product so superior that consumers will not accept anything less. And that is exactly what the little known company called SanDisk seeks to accomplish.
SanDisk will be the next Intel?
a leading provider of flash memory - a tiny wafer to store digital music, photos and videos - SanDisk is one of the primary users is growing demand for cellular phones, digital music players, digital cameras and game consoles. Over the past three years income for Sunnyvale (CA) companies have grown on average 70 percent annually. This year, they followed an increase of 19 percent, for a total of $ 2.1 billion in sales. Not surprisingly, SanDisk's stock has risen by 40 percent over the past 12 months.
Despite these great numbers, SanDisk faces a big challenge. For the most part, memory is a commodity business, and prices can be strongly cyclical. Price wars often erupt over night, and prices can take a nosedive nearly as fast. During the summer of 2004, for example, flash memory prices dropped precipitously, which is why SanDisk shares fall 40 percent in four days.
To avoid the current price of hiccups, SanDisk is trying to develop a strong brand that consumers will recognize and value. At the most basic level, this means convincing consumers to seek "one-GB SanDisk card" for a digital camera, and not just any one gigabyte card. Just as Intel believes PC buyers insist on Intel as "a chip of choice."
From where I sit, it seems like SanDisk is the first brand of consumer technology formula right. They spend millions on a global advertising campaign that targets the retail, magazines, and even prime-time TV shows like The Simpsons and Family. In comparison to the sheer dollars, SanDisk is not shelling out as much hard cash as Intel, but probably not. In fact, most companies do not need to spend nearly that much. They just need to commit sufficient financial resources to raise the attention of consumers.
SanDisk and it seems that the second part of the formula in the course of working hard to differentiate the technology that brings real benefit of consumers. Just last year, SanDisk has increased R & D spending by 48 percent trying to 125 million dolara.Rezultat a series of innovations - waterproof memory card, Titanium card, and secure memory cards with built-in fingerprint reader - you have captured the attention of consumers, because they offer compelling value
.SanDisk is also working with wireless carriers to protect consumers from fraud and identity theft. When faced with a lost or stolen mobile phone, consumers can contact the carrier to remotely disable the card and keep sensitive personal information safe. SanDisk has even offered to successful new products in the gadget business. In August last year, for example, the company introduced an MP3 player, which quickly drove to first place in the category, only to be knocked off when Apple introduced the iPod Shuffle.
SanDisk have what it takes to make the leap from an anonymous commodity services to the consumer recognized brands such as Intel? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I plan to be carefully monitored to see how their branding campaign continues to evolve and, more importantly, how the market reacts. As someone who lives and breathes technology, brand, I believe that we can all learn a lot from SanDisk's ongoing branding efforts.
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