Applied Materials

Brand Identity

Challenge

PRxDigital began working with Applied Materials when it had annual revenues of less than $100 million and was an also-ran in the highly competitive field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The company had just hired a new CEO, Jim Morgan, who was both brilliant and a risk-taker.

Applied Materials posed a unique challenge because it had, at most, twenty-five customers, all of them giant semiconductor chip makers, such as Intel and IBM. Furthermore, Applied Material’s greatest competitive advantage was its early entry into new international markets, most notably China, as much as a decade before any indigenous chip companies arose there.

The challenge, then, was to build Applied Material’s reputation – via PR, advertising and sponsorships – around its core business. By raising the company’s profile to help its image with investors, potential employees and surrounding communities, the campaign was designed to raise stock value, attract a skilled workforce and give the company a positive and sympathetic image to make it more resilient during the boom-bust cycles that characterized its industry.

Strategies & Tactics

This was accomplished in multiple ways over a two-decade period:

Education of the public, via press releases, in-house publications, and events, to the nature of Applied Materials’s technology and business.
Writing the AM annual report to reach a larger potential audience beyond hard-core chip companies and to attract investors.
Extensive sponsorship of local community non-profits, including the San Jose Ballet
Crisis management during downturns – creating the impression of Applied Materials as a ‘good company in hard times.’
Positioning of James C. Morgan as an innovative, effective leader in Silicon Valley and high tech in general.

Results

A major national media advertising campaign, targeted at a mainstream audience that positioned Applied Materials as “the company that makes the chips that run the world.” This $25M campaign was so successful that, a decade later, this tagline still characterizes the company in the public’s eye.
Joint Venture Silicon Valley – Applied took the lead in creating, under PRx’s consultation, JVSV, a consortium of Silicon Valley companies working together in their long-term strategic interests. The first organization of its kind in the world, JVSV still plays a key role in Silicon Valley business life.
When PRx ended its relationship with the company with the retirement of Jim Morgan, Applied Materials had annual revenues of more than $6 billion, a market value of nearly $100 billion.