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Marvell
David vs Goliath

Building a next level challenger brand.

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 ad campaign. This case is different.

We were tasked with helping Marvell 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 led 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 the legendary Stan Lee to become Marvell's Brand Ambassador.

That incredible piece of luck led to several celebrity environmentalists joining Stan in extolling the virtues of energy efficient technology at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, SXSW in Austin, CES in Las Vegas.

"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 join Governator Schwarzenegger on a trade mission to Asia, where he publicly announced Marvell's plan to build the greenest light industrial campus in China.

Our celebrity driven campaign opened new doors for Marvell's sales team by making the brand famous for making our hyper-connected, always-on world more sustainable.

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

  • Net revenue surged 48% to $3.55B.​

  • 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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