Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is packing away employees in its marketing division, prior to the arrival of its new chief marketing officer, Steven Fund. The chipmaker, who has not been doing so well lately, claims that Fund will restore some of its previous glory. In the past few weeks, as many as 40 marketing employees accepted voluntary incentive packages to leave, Reuters quoted two anonymous sources, who also said that the set of leaving employees include marketing vice presidents, Kevin Sellers and Nancy Bhagat, who would have reported to Mr. Fund if they stayed in the job.
These reductions come at a time when Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is struggling to revitalize itself, following the wake of reduced PC market. Its CEO Brian Krzanich reported during an online Reddit discussion earlier this year that the company needs to renovate its marketing principles to regain a part of its previous position within the market.
The sources also reported that morale among the staff was very low and that was a contributing factor for them leaving the company. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s marketing department had struggled for the past couple of years to captivate its customer base with two in one tablets and new ultrathin laptops. A third source, familiar with Intel Corporation’s marketing department reported that there indeed was a problem, which was obvious by looking at the Interbrand numbers. He says that bringing in Steven Fund was a good move, as a new face with a new thinking perspective was the need of the chip manufacturer.
According to Reuters, spokesman for Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Chuck Mulloy, refused to quote the exact number of people who left, but maintained that it fell within the corporation’s previous plans of trimming the workspace by 5% by the end of this year. He also said that the employees did not leave as a reaction to any specific problem in the marketing section. It is worth noting that Intel Corporation had more than 300 marketing employees spread around different business units and offices previously before the cut.
Intel Corporation made an announcement last week, stating its decision to hire senior Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS) executive, Steven Fund, and appoint him as the new chief marketing officer, and that he would be reporting directly to Krzanich, when he starts in June. He replaces 27 year old veteran and Intel loyalist, Deborah Conrad, who left in March.
Intel Corporation’s ‘Intel Inside’ campaign, launched in 1991, sought to revolutionize the electronic industry, by turning commodity electronic components into premium products. It reined so high that at one period of time, Intel stickers could be found on every laptop. But it lost a little of its previous glory in recent times, dropping down to No. 9 position for the year 2013 in Interbrand’s global ranking, from its previous position of No. 7 in 2011.
Krzanich’s decision to hire Fund has been faced with mixed opinions from its marketing employees, as Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which is culturally insular, does not hire executives from outside the company. Fund has a success history of building brands at The Procter and Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) and PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP). A few staff at Intel Corporation questioned Fund’s lack of technological knowledge, but many others said that they were looking forward to working with him.
