Is celeb endorsement the best option for Intel in China?

Ahead of the IAAF World Championship starting later this week in Beijing, Intel has secured endorsement deals with two Chinese athletes... but should they have bothered?

The deals (amounts undisclosed) will see long jumper Li Jinzhe and sprinter Su Bingtian take on brand ambassadorial duties in the Chinese market and the California headquartered tech company believes the record breaking track achievements of their new endorsees will rub off on their business interests in China. "Signing the two athletes shows that we appreciate the core value of sportsmen, which is to break through limits," Zhang Yifan, Marketing Director of Intel China emphasized.

The deal doesn’t seem like it will help add much brand clout to Intel as it has already been in China for the last thirty years and has an established clientele… Furthermore, recently it has been generous with discounts to its lesser known OEM partners (the likes of Emdoor Digital, Shezhen Alldo Cube Technology & Science Co. Ltd and Teclast Electronic have all benefitted in recent years) in China as the the battle for launching budget friendly mobiles and tablets intensifies in China.

This is not the first time Intel have turned to celebrity endorsements though, in Sport and outside. Lin Dan (Badminton) has been flying their flag for the last 3 years but the company seems to favour music stars: North Asian A-listers Girls Generation, Simon Yam, Jolin Tsai and Wang Leehom have all leant their name to the Fortune 500 company.

On average, Intel have spent USD540k per quarter on Non-traditional Media over last 3 years to date making it the largest chip manufacturer by spend, however most of their deals are relatively small.

Intel is known - or should be known - for the power of its processor chips and the innovation that this power can create. Platforms such as Museum of Me, MTV Sound Trippin', Regame: Escape from the Haunted House set the bar for creativity and customer engagement at scale. Instead of the stock standard celebrity brand endorsement route on publicity, Intel might have found more ROI if they had created 'high-tech' (a bit of a corny phrase but you know what we mean) branded content platforms for their business partners and mass consumers. Intel need to tackle both audiences equally because consumers care which chip is in their next device.

Maybe this will be borne out in the activation programmes they roll out... Whatever they do, however, will have to work hard to create impact in the face of Chinese tech household names such as Huawei and Alibaba which are deeply entrenched in the domestic sports Sponsorship scene.

Taken from Asia Sponsorship News