This is a commercial by Intel Japan promoting the Ultrabook, a sleek, light laptop with the Intel processor inside. The first marketing lecture made me reflect on my most recent big purchase: the HP Envy Spectre XT Ultrabook. Research about Ultrabooks led me to dozens of ads, and interestingly, this was the one I remembered the most clearly and the one I showed to other people.

This ad says nothing about the Ultrabook’s points of parity (fast Intel processor, good screen resolution, basic computing functions) nor its points of difference (ultra-portable at 3-4 pounds, 20 second start-up speed, long battery life), but somehow, this ad kept running in my head during my research period. Is it the awkward but lovable tiger? Or the catchy repetition of “urutorabook”? Whatever it was, it worked as the perfect hook to make me research the Ultrabook more thoroughly. Nevertheless, not all the people who saw this felt that way. Many hated it–said it was unfocused, random, confusing.

I see this as all-or-nothing marketing. Either the consumer will be intrigued enough to look into the product, or be completely turned off from the get-go. This may be very effective marketing in Japan because of the culture, but Intel should be careful–with the deterioration of international boundaries through the Internet, localized commercials may affect consumer choices all over the world.