M is the exclusive MLOVE forum dedicated to exploring the future of mobility and connectivity. Organized by MLOVE Curator Harald Neidhardt, the off-the-record, invite-only forum for CEOs, CMOs, entrepreneurs and technology leaders was recently hosted at The Grand Hotel Heiligendamm on the Mecklenburg Baltic coast in Germany.
A number of prominent individuals were invited to speak at the event, including Rambus CMO Jerome Nadel.
Nadel, who has an extensive background in both design and marketing, told forum attendees the two are intertwined and should not be thought of as disparate entities.
“Traditional marketers are primarily concerned with formulating strategy, generating content, increasing traffic, tracking lead generation, quantifying analytics and closely following reporting,” Nadel explained. “Meanwhile, designers are typically focused on emphasizing, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing.”
Rambus’ approach, says Nadel, blends strategy and design, a combination that is particularly important in the evolving semiconductor space where differentiation is a must. As an example, Nadel highlighted Rambus’ lensless smart sensor (LSS) technology, which was developed to help enable the next-generation of low-power sensing for consumers. At one millimeter thin, these thermal and visible light sensors are small enough to integrate directly into existing devices and applications, including digital eyewear, smart homes, VR and AR, as well as automotive.
To develop and explore potential use cases for LSS, Rambus collaborated with design firms IXDS and frog in the context of a Partners-in-Open-Development (POD) program.
“We asked them to prototype a number of minimum viable products around LSS in specific, clearly defined verticals. They helped us open up to a new and different way of thinking, allowing us to achieve a viable strategy critical for a very competitive IoT marketplace,” he continued.
“This successful collaboration illustrates the value of adopting a holistic approach to marketing – one that tactfully blends logic and a long-term marketing strategy with passion and a design-centric, forward-facing consumer mentality.”
At Rambus, says Nadel, this way of thinking has helped accelerate and optimize the branding process for LSS as well as other products in the company’s diverse portfolio.
“Understanding how our customers and partners will use a product plays a direct role in influencing its development,” he concluded.
“It is therefore essential for semiconductor marketing teams to think like designers upstream at the beginning of the creative process, rather than simply focusing on more traditional marketing methods downstream when a product is taped out or finalized. If you are promoting what you helped create, you naturally have a better understanding of the product itself.”
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