The Creators Project: The brilliant madness of Intel

That Internet stuff, multiculturalism and globalization are changing the world is well documented. And, on this blog and elsewhere, we’ve all read the complaints (actually fears might be a better word for it) that agencies and clients are not reacting quickly enough to positively leverage the changes within marketing. With that thought in mind, allow me to share with you The Creator’s Project, a joint venture between Intel and Vice Magazine. Yes, you read that correctly, Vice and Intel are in bed together making culture.

The Creators Project is a network connecting musicians, filmmakers, designers and artists to form unlikely collaborations and create new content that will come to life as a series of public events around the world.

Um, awesome.

Design collaboration as a marketing tactic is nothing new. Toyota, Converse and just about every major fashion label have undertaken similar initiatives. But, from a company like Intel which has a decidedly starched collar marketing heritage, this kind of “in-tune-ness” is just, well, crazy. Bravo to whomever got this one through. And, best of all it’s dead on strategically. Intel gets it. The future of their business is cultural connection and innovation. They are not just pushing chips anymore and their marketing is moving to reflect this new reality.

To someone who was closely involved in the old ways of high-tech marketing, this program came as a wonderful and inspiring shock. I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but we’re talking Intel here people, spending what has to be well over a million dollars to develop a series of events with a small, niche magazine group known for the whacked out “do and don’t” and magazine issues dedicated to things like goat demons and seeing trails.

These are strange times indeed.