When inspiration calls, you pick up the phone and give it directions to your house.

Pretty good advice for any business, I’d say.

Before I begin praising Intel’s new ads, let’s talk about the challenge they face:

How do you tell a brand story about something that is nearly impossible to see?

Our agency works with a number of technology companies and we frequently face the task of differentiating among similar technologies, products and services. This is an industry that has a serious addiction to speeds and feeds — everything is smaller, faster, lighter and better. Or it’s scalable, flexible and interoperable. (I cringe as I type this — I’ve used all of these words.) Basically, if you can add an “er” or “ble” to the end of a word, it’s a tech industry staple.

Just look at the words used to describe a new software launch by a recognized industry player: “Customers and partners worldwide are taking advantage of the power of choice, and deploying fast, flexible and affordable XXX solutions across on-premise, partner-hosted and XXX online deployment models.”

And it’s not Just the technology industry. John Furgurson at the Brand Insight Blog notes in a fantastic post that the golfing industry suffers from similar addictions.

That’s what makes Intel’s new advertising campaign so refreshing. In a recent commercial, they poke fun at the “smaller, better, faster” aspect, holding a press conference to introduce the world’s smallest chip –  but someone has dropped it and caused everyone in the room to begin hunting as if looking for a lost contact lens.

In another commercial, an Intel engineer enters a coffee room and ripples of excitement roll across the other employees who suddenly find themselves sharing the room with greatness. The tagline is perfect: “Our rock stars aren’t like your rock stars.”

In both cases, Intel recognizes what makes it’s brand story different — how a usually unseen element (chips, engineers) can lead to greatness and strong customer benefits. And a little humor doesn’t hurt.

What can you learn from Intel’s new ads?

ps. enjoy them below!

Oops!

Rock Stars

Image via Wikipedia

Certain bands are known for their frontman — the guy (or gal) who is most associated with the band. Think Mick Jagger, Pete Townsend, Bono, or Steven Tyler. These larger than life entertainers are most associated with their bands, even though the bands aren’t named for them. Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney would automatically be the frontmen because the band is named for them. Makes sense, right?

What about Van Halen? That’s a little different. David Lee Roth was the Van Halen frontman for the early 80s. (He also pwned MTV.) But then he didn’t. Establishing the rules for the frontman and the relationship that person has with a band and its audience is a little difficult. These people have such strong personalities that it’s often difficult to separate the person from the band — for good or bad. Now let’s talk about business.

Who is the frontman for your brand?

Who is so closely associated with your brand that the two become almost synonymous. Think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sir Richard Branson. None of the companies they are strongly associated with are named for them. Yet it seems impossible to separate one from the other. Just look at Apple. Mere rumors about health problems for the Apple frontman was enough to put the stock into play.

I think that strong brand personalities are important. They should be cultivated and encouraged. But I also think that brand frontmen need some rules. They need to share the spotlight. They need to introduce the others in the brand. And they should probably avoid wearing the tight leather pants to formal corporate parties.

Perhaps a better question is: “How often do brands change?” Because the answer to the original question is: “Of course they do.”

Brands change all the time. They evolve (even religion-related brands). Sometimes they reach out to new markets. Sometimes they extend their brand families to include new products. Sometimes they pare back. The key for brands that are in some type of transition is to make sure they can still tell an authentic brand story that reflects their earlier stories.

This doesn’t mean that a brand can’t evolve and become something entirely new. It doesn’t even preclude complete revolution. When America declared its independence, it stated a new brand story. And it started by using the old brand story for counterpoint.

So if you’re thinking about changing your brand — go for it. Just make sure you figure out how your old brand story is related to your new brand story.

Just a quick note on this historic morning. President-elect Barack Obama is a wonderful, powerful and dynamic speaker. And his use of a story to move the narrative of his acceptance speech on Tuesday night is a great example.

Just look at how he tells the history of America through the eyes of a 106 year old woman. The language and Obama’s use of a familiar, repeated narrative device (”Yes we can”) moves us powerfully through to the present moment with him at podium:

“This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that ‘We Shall Overcome’. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.”

Full transcript here.