Intel Core 2 Duo

Intel today announced a new program to promote its recently launched Core 2 Duo processor. The company will run a global advertising campaign that will reach the investment volume of Intel's $300-million Centrino campaign in 2003, an executive told TG Daily.

It's the first time Intel advertises the potential benefits of a dual-core processor and the company doesn't take any chances you are going to miss it. "Multiply" is the name of the campaign, which is implemented in print and TV ads carry the simple message that computer users can do more at the same time by "multiplying" dancers in images and the screen and showing them at different at activities - such as holding an imaginary game controller.

Nancy Bhagat, vice president and group director of integrated marketing at Intel, said that the commercials are designed to appeal to an 18- to 30-year-old core audience, while the use of music should "resonate" with every viewer. Other than the Mariah Carey campaign the company ran earlier this year, Intel relies on music from fairly unknown bands in its new commercials. Bhagat said that the spots serve as a reminder of the "benefits of Intel products" and should make "Intel top of the line again."

The executive declined to reveal how much money Intel is investing in this global campaign. However, she said that "it is about the level of the Centrino campaign" in 2003, which had a budget of $300 million and had the purpose of promoting wireless capability and remove the focus from the clock speed of the processor. "We really haven't spent at this level and haven't had this reach since Centrino," Bhagat said.