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Marvell
Essential technology, done right

Purpose driven work that works.

Tom Hayes, VP Marketing & Whitty with Marvell co-founders Sehat Sutardja & Weili Dai, pitching the media in Hong Kong.

Most marketing case studies start with a sluggish or declining sales graph, which is then dramatically reversed by the new campaign. This case is different. Marvell Technology was looking to leverage their position as a leading brand in the rapidly growing market for digital storage chips.

We were tasked with helping them penetrate new market segments, and that meant taking on semiconductor industry giants like Intel.  

While our search for a unifying campaign idea centered around the low-power high-performance proposition that was key to Marvell's success in the data storage market, it was a casual remark from a sales rep that would lead to our positioning the brand as a sustainability superhero.

Once we'd learnt just how often prospective customers thought they were being called on by Marvel Entertainment, we rather cheekily persuaded Stan Lee to become Marvell's Brand Ambassador. That incredible piece of luck led to celebrity environmentalists Mark Ruffalo and Adrian Grenier joining Stan at Marvell sponsored events during CES in Las Vegas, SXSW in Austin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

"Celebrities are different from the rest of

us mortals. Everything is magnified:

money problems, egos, schedules, legalities. But I happen to like working with people who ain’t entirely normal; when properly used, they can turn a routine event into an instant newsmaker."

Tom Hayes, VP Marketing

As a result of all the media attention we were generating, Marvell's co-founders were invited to accompany Governator Schwarzenegger on a trade mission to Asia, and, with a great deal of fanfare, he announced Marvell's plan to build one of the greenest industrial campuses in China.

End result? The celebrity driven campaign made Marvell famous for making our hyper-connected, always-on world more energy efficient.

 

As a result of that result:

  • Sales in enterprise networking, carrier infrastructure, and consumer segments increased 56%, 28%, and 20%, respectively.

  • Net revenue surged by 48% to $3.55 billion.

  • The "Smart Electronics Act" was introduced by U.S. Congressman for the 17th District of California and Silicon Valley, Mike Honda.

Source: Gartner

Stan Lee

"Honest, inspiring, entertaining and necessary. Whitty may well be the most interesting and authentic person left in

the advertising industry." 

Tom Hayes, VP Marketing

Services

Brand Strategy

Digital, Print, Design, Video

Trade Shows & Events

Public Relations

Government Affairs

Client

Tom Hayes, VP Marketing

Collaborators

Chris Kirk, Mind Bomb Films

Jim Cunneen, California Stategies  

See other work

Be a charming guest,
not an aggressive tout.

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