Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

Intel rolled out Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman and Danny DeVito to help sell its Viiv technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The star power, however, did little to convince anyone that Viiv is anything special. Intel describes Viiv as ushering in a new era of computing and entertainment. All part of Intel's new marketing fluff that presents processors as some kind of lifestyle choice. In other words, you'll be a media-less jerk in a couple of years if you reject Viiv. To lay it on thick, Intel announced partnerships with AOL, DirecTV and NBC where the content providers will certify their services to work with Viiv-enabled technology. So what? Intel CEO, Paul Otellini brought out Hanks, Freeman and DeVito to sell the ClickStar movie service, which will be Viiv-enabled, whatever that means. Something about releasing films straight to consumers. (Which really has nothing to do with the technology!) Despite all these content deals and movie stars, Viiv still seems to be little more than a media capable PC. Intel has put a huge focus on branding at this year's CES, which is hardly a surprise given that Otellini is the first Intel CEO with a sales and marketing background. "We are at the threshold of a new digital entertainment era" Otellini said, marketing Viiv hard. "This really is nothing short of revolutionizing entertainment." Oh… Right… Yawn.

Wake me up when Viiv gets here.