SAN JOSE, California -- Intel's Preview Day for its new Pentium III chip on Wednesday resembled an Apple product launch with lots of sound and music but without the panache, humor, or excitement.
Staged for the benefit of about 320 members of the technology press and twice as many resellers and other partners, the preview kick starts a massive US$300 million worldwide marketing campaign, the biggest in the company's history.
Craig Barrett, Intel's president and CEO, emceed the day's introductory presentation. Taking his cue from Apple's Steve Jobs, Barrett's talk was punctuated with a series of flashy videos, guest appearances from techno wizards, and a displays of spiffy, whiz-bang technology.
But his leaden pace, weak jokes, and dumbed-down techno talk prompted not a murmur from the audience, who remained as unmoved as Easter Island icons, except for occasional snorts of derision.
The Pentium III's massive marketing campaign started Sunday with a series of teaser ads in print and TV. Notably absent are the bunny people, who have been shelved in favor of a wider cast of consumer-friendly characters, including a huffing-puffing big bad wolf, a mob of Vikings, and a heavily armed robot. All of them try to break down a mysterious locked door marked "Intel Inside."
Intel is making a big splash Thursday night, with a regular sprinkling of ads throughout NBC's blockbuster lineup of Frasier, Friends, and ER, an especially big draw since star George Clooney is scheduled to exit the show.
The teasers will give way to the campaign proper on 28 February, the weekend after the chip's official launch on 26 February.
The campaign will focus not on the chip's specs, but on how it transforms the personal-computing experience, especially the Internet, said Jami Dover, Intel's vice president of marketing.
"We want to show them how the Pentium III will make the Internet a much more consumer-friendly environment," she said. "We want to emphasize the potential richness of the multimedia experience.... You take people raised on TV and show them a flat text page. It's quite a juxtaposition."
