Ready to 
New AMD branding emphasizes platform
Robert Hallock
September 10, 2009 12:49 PM ET in Tech
A new marketing initiative from CPU firm AMD is looking to change the way Bob and Alice Consumer find a PC that fits their needs.
For years chipmakers like AMD and Intel have tried to attract consumers with hardware specifications. Memory, clockspeed and GPU figures have long had a home on a PC’s retail placard, but AMD thinks there’s a better way to inform buyers. That way is called VISION, and it is the name of a new branding effort which is designed to emphasize the experience a PC can provide irrespective of its hardware.
The goal of VISION, says AMD, is to give customers a way to identify a PC that will fit their needs without getting lost in the minutiae of specs.
“We believe most mainstream consumers are more interested in how they are going to use the system, not necessarily how fast it is,” says AMD CMO and SVP Nigel Dessau. “In its simplest form we are connecting the needs of the consumer to the PC – not the processor.”
On timing and competition
AMD’s new push comes less than six weeks from the October 22 launch of Windows 7, which is expected to spawn a flood of new business and residential PC purchases. The chip designer is working closely with major OEMs like Hewlett-Packard and Dell to get the branding on new boxes in time for the launch, but why?
Look no further than archrival Intel which, AMD says, currently rules the roost on the branding front.
“We know if people are choosing between Intel and AMD by looking at the current tags in Best Buy or other stores, we lose every time,” AMD VP of Worldwide Product Marketing Leslie Sobon. “We have to change the rules.”
AMD seems to have been working on changing the rules since 2006 when it acquired graphics maker ATI for the princely sum of $5.4 billion. It has since leveraged the purchase with the Spider and Dragon platforms which, in hindsight, appear to have been overtures towards the VISION end game.
Is VISION the right move in a high-stakes game historically dominated by your rival? Some analysts think the risk is worth it.
“It’s a big risk but fits where the industry is going in terms of focusing on personalization and figuring out how a computer fits your lifestyle,” says IDC computer analyst Richard Shim.
The advent of VISION may also be critical for AMD if it hopes to battle Intel when it enters the “complete solution” game with a discrete GPU of its own. On track for 2010, Intel’s “Larrabee” project embodies the company’s aspirations to usurp discrete GPU maker NVIDIA, and that bodes ill for ATI which trails in market share by some six to fifty percent (depending on whom you ask).
How it works
VISION will initially launch in graduated tiers which provide consumers with three increasingly robust performance targets. The first level, the eponymous VISION, promises a smooth experience with office-oriented tasks like surfing the ‘net and email. VISION Premium kicks the performance up a notch and promises audio/video conversion, 1080p playback and rudimentary gaming. Meanwhile, VISION Ultimate sits the throne and promises podcast creation, intensive gaming and HTPC capabilities.
AMD alleges that these categories are more informative than the misleading “0-60″ numbers benchmarks can provide.
“One of the reasons for this disconnect is that the ‘0-60 mph’ speed metrics are derived through benchmarks like SysMark07,” says Dessau.
“I will leave it to other people to detail why this benchmark is inadequate for most users, but I will point out that the software the benchmark uses has virtually nothing to do with videos, music or helping your manage your photos. Also, it doesn’t run Windows 7.”
AMD also plans to offer a fourth tier, VISION Black, for boutique builders of premium PCs that go beyond the mundane fare offered at BNB establishments.
Going to retail
While the new VISION program won’t truly hit critical mass until the turn of the New Year, Dessau is already allaying fears that itemized specs are not long for this world.
“Just in case you were worrying, VISION Technology from AMD will extend to desktops early next year and your retailers will be able to tell you what parts went into your VISION system (it will be on the fact tags).”
Ultimately, VISION aspires to transcend the “bigger numbers” war that has surrounded the spec sheet for years.
“The truth is that little has changed in the way x86 processors are marketed since AMD introduced 64 bits and multi-core processors. Even then the marketing, while it was new and creative, was another way of saying, ‘faster, better and more.’ It didn’t fundamentally change the way the industry talked about its products.”
But in the end says Dessau, “it is about getting you the right machine for your needs because it’s about making your vision a reality.” Only time will tell if consumers have a VISION they’re ready to let AMD help them realize.
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