Intel Spending $100 M To Pitch Pentium Ii

Intel Corp. said Monday it will spend more than $100 million this autumn, the most it has ever spent for a fall campaign, to promote its new Pentium II microprocessors on television, print and radio. The campaign, featuing disco-dancing technicians in chip-making garb, will pitch the Pentium II as the engine of speedy consumer personal computers that can handle stereo sound and video. Until now, Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has promoted the Pentium II for business machines. Beginning Monday, the advertisements will air on prime-time network television shows. Print ads began appearing in August in consumer magazines like Self and Vanity Fair. Even though almost every personal computer maker has to buy computer chips from Intel to make their machines work, Intel and its partners have spent more than $2 billion in the past four years promoting the Pentium brand.