Intel Pitch Steps Outside

After 14 years, the "Intel Inside" marketing slogan is being put to rest.

Intel(INTC) will unveil a major overhaul of its corporate logo and branding next year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal's online edition. The company's new logo will no longer feature the dropped "e" in the Intel name. And the Santa Clara, Calif., chipmaker will introduce a new "Leap Ahead" slogan, in lieu of its well-known Intel Inside slogan.

The company also will move away from the Pentium name, which it has used to label many of its chips since 1993. The company's forthcoming notebook processor, to be introduced at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, will be dubbed "Core Duo" and "Core Solo," depending on whether the chip features one or two processor cores, the Journal reported.

The branding revamp is being led by Eric Kim, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's sales and marketing division, who joined the company last year from Samsung Electronics.

Intel introduced the "Intel Inside" campaign in 1991, catapulting the Intel name to one of the top 10 global brands, along with Coca-Cola(KO) and McDonald's(MCD), according to the company. In addition to being a marketing slogan, Intel Inside is an advertising cooperative program in which the chipmaker shares advertising funds with computer makers who feature the Intel Inside slogan on their products. According to the report, that program will continue.

But the changing landscape of the tech industry, including the rising prominence of cell phones and other consumer electronic gadgets beyond personal computers, may have prompted the chipmaker to refresh its branding strategy. It's also unclear whether Apple Computer(AAPL), which is slated to begin using Intel microprocessors next year, is willing to display the Intel logo on its famously style-conscious PCs.

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