If you imagined a Dell PC, you'd probably be thinking of a cheap and cheerful system that was functional but resoundingly average. It appears that Dell knows this and plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars marketing the company's top products to try and dispel its low-end image.
According to Reuters, chief marketing officer Paul-Henri Ferrand has outlined the company's new global advertising strategy. Though he refused to give an exact figure, Ferrand said that "hundreds and hundreds of millions" would be spent on emphasising the company's premium products.
"We're going to stop mentioning price as the single important aspect," he explained.
Of course, Dell's problem is largely an issue of marketing. Though it does sell cheaper products, it also has a whole range of high-end offerings. The company's professional monitors are among the best on the market, while its Adamo laptops and Alienware gaming systems are both decidedly premium.
In addition, this move may be an excellent way to help improve Dell's fortunes. The company has faltered over the last decade, and though it recently returned to second place on the table of largest PC manufacturers, its position is anything but certain.
Dell's president of the global consumer and small and medium business division, Steve Felice, also took the opportunity to shoot back at Steve Jobs, who asserted that 7in tablets - including Dell's - would be 'dead on arrival'. He told the news service that "Apple is known for dictating what's going to happen in the market place and what a consumer should buy. We're at the opposite end of the spectrum, emphasizing customer choice," adding that "it's a bit premature to tell customers what they're going to like and what they don't like".
