????大公司請名人為產品代言是司空見慣的做法。第一資本金融公司（Capital One）的代言人是演藝明星亞歷克斯?鮑德溫，露華濃（Revlon）的“品牌大使”則是哈莉?貝瑞。通常來說，這種合作關系很簡單：公司付錢給名人，名人負責推銷產品。不過，去年英特爾公司（Intel）想出了一個新招數。他們雇傭了will.i.am（Hip-hop團體“黑眼豆豆”首腦人物，著名音樂制作人——譯注）來擔任“創新總監”。

????這家芯片業巨頭為此發布了一則激動人心的聲明，把這一簽約描繪為“為期數年，親力親為的創意和技術合作?！迸c此同時，作為“黑眼豆豆”（Black Eyed Peas）的頭面人物，will.i.am也發表了感想：“能和英特爾公司的科學家、研究人員和計算機程序員結成團隊，通力合作，共同開發溝通、創意、通信和娛樂的新途徑將會是一番不同尋常的體驗?！?/p>

????那么，這位說唱巨星兼音樂制作人雖然親切友好，但對英特爾來說，他對于研發下一代微處理器到底能做出什么樣的貢獻呢？在今年舉辦的拉斯維加斯消費電子展（Consumer Electronics Show）上，英特爾的首席執行官保羅?歐特里尼宣布，公司將讓will.i.am展開一段環球之旅，推廣充滿無限創意可能的“超級本”（Ultrabook）。之所以要設計這一系列搭載英特爾品牌的筆記本，本意在于和蘋果公司（Apple）的輕薄筆記本Macbook Air一較高下。在這一旅程中，英特爾會派出一支視頻團隊全程跟拍will.i.am，而他會用“超級本”與他的200萬名Twitter粉絲進行溝通。每到一座城市，他都會在一位當地藝術家的創意協助下，譜寫新作品。粉絲們則可以訪問英特爾的“超級本項目”網站，下載免費的音樂，觀看will.i.am一路上的視頻。

????所有這些做法，聽起來更像是高明的營銷手段，跟芯片設計沒什么關系。確實，首先想出和will.i.am開展這種合作的英特爾高管正是資深營銷副總裁約翰?杰佛。這位丹麥人原來在麥當勞（McDonald's）工作，負責全球品牌推廣。正是他策劃了“我就喜歡”（"I'm lovin' it"）這一推廣活動。不過，杰佛和英特爾的其他高管都竭力否認will.i.am只是個明星代言人。杰佛就此所作的表態是：“這個活動不是說Will就拿著‘超級本’在全世界飛來飛去，到處跟人微笑著說‘就買它吧’。其實技術是他謀生的核心手段。”

????近日，《財富》雜志（Fortune）在“唱片工場”（Record Plant）專訪了will.i.am。他在這間富有傳奇色彩的好萊塢錄音棚里擁有一間辦公室。就在這個采訪的前一晚，他和斯蒂夫?旺達（美國著名黑人盲音樂家——譯注）剛領銜舉行了一場慈善音樂會，為他的個人慈善基金籌得了500萬美元。這個基金主要是向博伊爾高地（Boyle Heights）的年輕人提供教育輔導和大學助學金。而這個位于洛杉磯的貧困地區正是他成長的地方。就在他辦公室隔壁的錄音棚里，一支管弦樂隊正在排練，為“黑眼豆豆”的一首新曲錄制配樂。這位今年36歲的說唱巨星穿著寬松的休閑短褲，一邊大嚼咖啡桌上一個大碗里的開心果，一邊向我們坦陳他自己對與英特爾合作的理解。

????他說：“是我去找他們合作的，因為我想生產硬件設備，我要做電腦、平板電腦和電話一類的產品。但我不想僅僅是把自己的簽名印在產品上。藝術家往往把自己的名字印在一些不值錢的玩意上。但英特爾是生產智能核心部件的——這就是為什么我想跟他們緊密合作的原因?！?/p>

????英特爾要推出一款will.i.am冠名的硬件產品還有待時日。不過，這位說唱巨星去年就和英特爾的技術專家們會晤過了。當時他們討論的是，如果要呈現一場虛擬的“黑眼豆豆”音樂會，有成千上萬的樂迷參與，而所有人都通過深入體驗的3D設備與樂隊互動，在算法上會遇到哪些挑戰。

????Celebrity endorsements are commonplace, from Capital One pitchman Alec Baldwin to Revlon "brand ambassador" Halle Berry. Such arrangements are normally simple: company pays celeb to tout its products. Last year, however, Intel came up with a new wrinkle on the formula by hiring hip-hop star will.i.am as its "director of creative innovation."

????The giant chipmaker issued a breathless announcement, describing the engagement as a "multi-year, hands-on creative and technical collaboration." The Black Eyed Peas frontman, meanwhile, gushed: "Teaming up with the scientists, researchers and computer programmers at Intel (INTC) to collaborate and co-develop new ways to communicate, create, inform and entertain is going to be amazing."

????So how, exactly, is the genial rapper and producer contributing to the development of Intel's next-generation microprocessors? At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, CEO Paul Otellini announced that Intel was sending will.i.am on a world tour to promote the creative possibilities of the Ultrabook, a line of Intel-branded notebooks designed to compete with Apple's (AAPL) Macbook Air. Trailed by Intel video crews, will.i.am is using Ultrabooks to communicate with his two million Twitter followers and compose new music with creative help from a local artist in each city. Fans can visit Intel's Ultrabook Project site to download free tracks and watch video of will.i.am on the road.

????All this sounds more like high-concept marketing than chip design. Tellingly, the Intel executive who first dreamed up the will.i.am partnership is senior marketing VP Johan Jervoe, a Dane who previously led global branding efforts at McDonald's (MCD), where he devised the "I'm lovin' it" campaign. But Jervoe and other Intel execs strenuously deny that will.i.am is a mere celebrity pitchman. "This is not Will flying around the world with an Ultrabook, smiling and saying 'Buy this,'" Jervoe adds. "Technology is central to what he does for a living."

????Fortune recently caught up with will.i.am at the Record Plant, a legendary recording studio in Hollywood where he keeps an office. The previous night, he and Stevie Wonder had headlined a charity concert that raised $5 million for his personal charity, which provides mentoring and college scholarships to young people in Boyle Heights, the hardscrabble Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up. In the studio next door, an orchestra was setting up to record strings for a future Black Eyed Peas track. Wearing baggy black cargo shorts and munching pistachio nuts from a large bowl on his coffee table, the 36-year-old rapper offered his own take on the Intel relationship.

????"I sought them out because I wanted to make hardware, do computers, tablets, phones," he says. "But I didn't want to just put my signature on some product. Artists are always putting their names on shit. Intel makes the brain -- that's why I wanted to hook up with them."

????Intel has yet to release a will.i.am hardware line. But the rapper devoted time last year to meeting with Intel technologists. They've discussed the computational challenges involved with putting on a virtual Black Eyed Peas concert attended by thousands of avatars, all interacting with the band in immersive 3D.