Our APAC team is on a roll.  Earlier this month they came out with The Museum Of Me – a personal ‘walkthrough’ of your activity on Facebook – in the form of a short film. Brilliant work that went viral almost immediately (1M downloads the first day, nearly 4M to date), with ZERO paid media to promote it.  That same team has not rested on it’s success, following up Museum Of Me with a sequel to our hit ‘The Chase‘ entitled ‘The Escape‘.  It’s YouTube as you’ve never seen it before – an interactive experience layered on top of a ‘Visibly Smart‘ Film. The teaser trailer is below, if you’d like to get the full experience visit our site and see if you can…Escape.

We’ve released our latest spot, featuring the Penguins from Disney’s Madagascar.  Proving once again, everything IS better with Intel Inside.

If you haven’t yet seen our latest spot ‘The Chase’ you should.  We’ve garnered a ton of recognition for this short film, having topped the Ad Age viral charts and being selected as one of TED’s ‘Ads Worth Spreading‘.  We’ve got a lot of smart, creative people here at Intel.  This is a prime example of the innovative work we produce.

Please join me in welcoming our new Director of Creative Innovation – Will.i.am.  Yesterday we (Intel) announced a new member of our ‘Blue Badge’ work force… a classification given to our full time, non contract contingent – the most creative member of the group The Black Eyed Peas.  Announced at our annual Sales and Marketing conference to our internal teams, and to the rest of the world through Will.i.am’s Twitter Feed, the news was met with overwhelming kudos from all outlets of the press.  My favorite quote:

“every beat I make is made with intel. And now were partners.”

Well said…and welcome to the team.

This week, at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show we (Intel) introduced the world’s best new processors, the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processor family.  As part of this announcement with a focus on the visually stunning features built right into the chips through processor graphics, we’ve also unveiled a component of our Visibly Smart marketing campaign called the Visual Life.  We’d like to have you show us your Visual Life.  The people you know, the places you visit, the things that inspire you…  To kick things off, we’ve produced a video of Blogger Scott Schuman, aka “The Sartorialist” as an example of someone who lives and breathes, a very Visual Life.

Today, eMarketer released a study from the Center For Market Research on the adoption of micro-blogging by the Fortune 500.  The increased adoption (60% of the Fortune 500 is now leveraging Twitter – up from 35% a year ago) shows the evolving importance of using this platform for customer service, promotion, and overall engagement with users of their brand offerings.  We, at Intel, leverage Twitter significantly to engage with our users, answer questions, and promote new marketing campaigns and product launches.  We’ve found it to be an effective tool to ensure that we are always available to the needs of current and future customers.  What’s been great to see is that the Twitterverse is 1) Interested in what we have to say 2) Takes advantage of the opportunity to engage back with us and 3) Helps amplify our messages that they find interesting by retweeting or commenting on key exchanges.  This is a trend that is only going to continue to grow, and is an important means for value exchange with our user base.

Oh, what I would give to have this ability at times.  Here’s our new ad spot, just released this week…

We’re on a roll here lately at Intel.  We’ve launched a stunning new Core Processor Family, we’ve done a great job of continuing to build our brand through media executions like the Super Bowl and March Madness, and we’ve been recognized for our leadership in innovation by Business Week, Fast Company as well as showing leadership among the most admired companies in the world.  Today, Forbes recognized us for being in the top ten most reputable companies.  It feels great to work for a company that is so widely recognized for Innovation, Reputation, and Quality.  One subnote, Forbes should probably take a look at our site to ensure that they have our official logo – that ‘dropped e’ hasn’t been around for quite some time!

Well, I guess we ARE the Sponsors of Tomorrow… last year, Business Week had us ranked as the #33 most innovative company.  After a long year in the middle of the pack, we’ve surged forward.  It’s been a great year.  We’ve released a major brand campaign, a new product line, and have gotten some great press to boost our visibility.  Oh yeah, and we knocked the socks off the Street earlier this week with our Q1 earnings announcement.  Looking forward to cracking the top 10 next year…

I’ve been a Blackberry user for a long time – a really long time.  I’ve become a master of the ‘intuitive’ text feature (with only one phrase being the bane of my existence, but that’s another story) and I’m a fan of the small form factor of the Pearl 8110 – it fits easily in your front pocket, does most everything I need it to do, and is a very reliable device.

However this year, as in years past with Intel, I’ve been asked to take the lead on a new media vehicle and explore all of our options for marketing and advertising programs in that space.  Hence, my Blackberry got a mate – in the form of an iPhone.  Now, I’ve been a long time ‘listener’ but have made the transition to first time ‘caller’…to use a radio talk show line.  I’m not convinced that I’m going to be excited about carrying two devices (although many of my counterparts already do it), it is a necessary evil to be proficient in the trends of the mobile web.  Next step – securing an Android device…

We’re pretty excited about the opportunities that are presenting themselves in the mobile space and are intent on creating some innovative and first mover programs that bring the Intel brand to a ‘third’ screen.  We’ve already done some good work in the Americas with our iPhone app and our Global team has partnered with a leading mobile agency and a leading web-based streaming music company to create a compelling mobile experience that gives iPhone users a unique ‘station’ modeled after the 3 types of ‘Core’ processors – each providing a unique listening experience.  This is the first time a custom channel has been developed for a mobile device on Pandora – kudos to our Global team for making that happen.

Stay tuned – it’s going to be an exciting ride on the Mobile Web for us this year.