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Tech Giant Rebrands during the year of Lockdown: Intel

Throughout November, we’ve been looking at major tech companies that rebranded during the tumultuous year of 2020 and what we can learn from their wins and failures. So far we’ve explored Medium’s most recent rebrand and new logo, Google’s reinvention of their G-suite into Google workspace, and Godaddy’s long-overdue transition from their iconic redhead logo. This time around, we’re diving into Intel’s new branding.

Intel announced its latest 11th Gen core PC processors and new chip brand Evo. Alongside this launch, the company also rolled out a new logo — the third it has ever used in the 51 years.

Intel got rid of the 2006’ iconic swirl leaving a stand-alone wordmark with a blue dot on the letter “i” symbolizing the company’s semiconductor history. Intel’s logo combines the elements of both 2006 and 1969 logotypes under the tagline “Our rich legacy drives our future”. Although coherent, the transformation sacrifices a little personality in the process.

Intel recognized that they were “too blue” and moved beyond it to a broader color palette, adding black, yellow, or even orange. This has allowed them to localize their marketing to different global markets (for example, adding red in marketing materials in Japan).

Intel’s rebrand is a timely attempt to reinstate the company as a go-to producer of processors, since various incumbents challenge their status, including Apple. The tech giant recently announced its own ARM processor, with others following suit in similar ways.

Final wunderthoughts:

Win:

Successfully expanding beyond the staple palette and logo and modernizing their look while embracing the legacy.

Loss:

Transformation sacrifices a little personality in the process.

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How do vision and mission statements impact a company's long-term direction?

Effective vision and mission statements should ideally constitute important tools in formulating a company’s strategy. They should largely remain unchanged through the years, though a significant pivot may bring about new vision and mission statements. Together, they work to define the focus of the business and how it impacts the world. 

The vision statement is a representation of your company’s view of a better world. The mission statement reflects how it sets about to achieve this vision. They work together to create internal alignment and help with strategic decision making. When planning for the future, developing new products, or experimenting with new strategies, teams can perform a quick check against the vision and mission statements to ensure that these initiatives are aligned with the essence of the brand. 

In short, the vision and mission statements are powerful tools which can and should impact decisions across the organizations, making them important factors in a company’s long-term direction.

How does brand strategy influence the overall success of a business?

Your brand strategy reflects how your brand sees the world and its role within it. It is the framework that, ideally, should guide all your communications (both external and internal) and audience touchpoints, i.e. each interaction an audience member has with your business. 

Having standardized communication across all channels and touchpoints makes business processes smoother and positively influences your client relationships, ensuring you develop strong, long-term connections with your customers. It also simplifies strategic decision-making and aligns your team. All these factors are vital to the success of a business.

How do messaging frameworks help communicate your brand message effectively?

Messaging frameworks are structured guides that outline the core messages, value propositions, and differentiators of a brand. They ensure consistency across all communications, from marketing materials and social media posts to customer service interactions. By defining key messages that resonate with the brand's target audiences, messaging frameworks help ensure that a brand’s communications are clear and memorable. 

They also help organizations stay aligned internally and ensure that each member, regardless of their role, understands what the brand’s key message is and how to communicate it effectively. This internal alignment is crucial for presenting a unified brand image to the outside world.

What specific elements contribute to a brand's verbal identity?

A brand’s verbal identity should align your team on how your brand communicates and how this communication changes depending on the situation. It defines a specific and recognizable language through which your brand can deliver its message to your audience or audiences.

Typically, a verbal identity includes some, or all, of the following elements:

Brand personality: This captures the human traits or characteristics that your brand embodies, such as being adventurous, sophisticated, or reliable, which help shape how your brand is perceived.

Brand voice: The brand voice reflects how your brand reflects its personality across all communication channels.

Brand tone: While the brand voice remains consistent, the brand tone can change depending on the context of the message and the audience being addressed, ranging from formal and professional to informal and friendly.

Messaging frameworks: These are strategic tools that outline the key messages your brand intends to communicate to its different target audiences, ensuring that all messaging is aligned with your brand's mission, vision, and value propositions.

Messaging examples: These provide specific examples of how your brand's messaging might be applied in various scenarios.

Style and grammar guidelines: These outline your preferred spelling, grammar, and style, ensuring that your communication is consistent across the board. 

What are some key considerations when developing a tone of voice for a brand?

The first and most important consideration is the brand’s personality. While businesses are functional, they still communicate with people – and people primarily connect with stories and personas. Your brand’s personality will define a set of human characteristics which reflect how it sees itself in the world. By giving your brand these human attributes, you are making it both distinctive and easier to identify with. The tone of voice should reflect your brand’s personality.

It’s also important to consider your target market and your audience’s expectations. While having a distinctive tone of voice is important for memorability, there is such a thing as being too different. If all brands in your segment adopt a serious, professional tone, and you would like to be fun and playful, there is certainly space for that, but consider very carefully why you are doing it.

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