Game Blog

Evolving the AMD Brand Portfolio

The voice on the other end of the call said, very clearly “You’re doing what?”

“We are replacing the “ATI” brand with “AMD” across our market share leading Radeon graphics family, starting in the fourth quarter of this year.”

(Silence)

“Well, I wasn’t expecting that…”

This is an example of the kind of exchange I had with some of the editors who cover our ATI graphics family.  And it was not surprising.  Brands are intended to evoke emotions and create connections, even feelings that can transcend logic.   In that respect, the graphics business is very much like sports and politics in that people take their emotional positions and enjoy participating in the dialogue about the competition.   It’s part of the “fun” of the business.

Even so, many brands have come and gone, and there comes a time when the real value of a brand wanes, often before the sentimental value.  This is exactly the position we face now with the ATI brand – based on the hard facts of market research undertaken in early 2010, it is clear our strongest foot forward is actually a combination of AMD and product brands such as Radeon™ or FirePro™.  But we’ll share more of that later.

A bit of background – hopefully grounded in the ‘realm of reason.’  First, we at AMD believe – actually, we know – that processor brands (CPUs and GPUs) are largely irrelevant in the PC buying decision.  Time and again, our research confirms that the average PC buyer is unaware of what processors are under the hood of their PC.  This is why we invest very little in ‘brand-building’ with the mainstream market segment.

And, it’s why we launched our VISION Technology program.  If you want the most visually-compelling PC experience for your money, you want the one with the “VISION” sticker on it.  If you’re a retail sales associate, everything you need to know is on that sticker.  The VISION brand is simple and memorable, and it’s focused on what people are trying to do with their PC, not what is in it.  For that reason VISION is a big hit across the industry.

But I digress…most brands and logos in this business are aimed at what we refer to as the “processor aware” audience.  For AMD, that’s everyone from OEMs and ISVs to channel partners, investors and IT professionals.  And for the ATI brand, it means enthusiasts and gamers.  So, earlier this year, we asked over 4,000 “graphics processor aware” individuals in seven countries – China, Brazil, Germany, Russia, UK, Japan and the US – which brands they know about, consider and prefer.  The results may surprise you, at least a bit.

First, we learned that the “Radeon” brand is as strong as any other product or company brand in terms of awareness and consideration.  Oh, there are regional differences in favor of one brand or another – but in general, Radeon is well established as a leader in this segment.

Second, preference for the AMD brand is stronger against the competition than the ATI brand.  This isn’t to say the ATI brand isn’t strong… it says that enthusiasts assign higher brand preference to the AMD brand.   And it is a nice complement to the Radeon-related finding mentioned above.

Third – and this was the clincher – those who know that AMD and ATI merged score their brand preference for AMD three times higher than those who are not aware of the merger.  In other words, if you know we are one company, you believe in us more.  On the other hand, by keeping the brands distinct, we were actually limiting or handicapping our own brand strength.

In short, we needed to make ‘the move.’

So, with our new product refresh in the fourth quarter of this year, you will see the beginning of an industry-wide shift to AMD Radeon™ and AMD FirePro™ graphics processors.  The timing couldn’t be better, as we just regained the market share lead in discrete graphics, and have launched an unprecedented number of processors and solutions for the professional graphics market.   Not to mention that in Q4 of this year, we intend to begin shipping our first AMD Fusion family of APUs, featuring world-class AMD Radeon graphics.

So, all emotion aside, we know this is a solid decision, based on feedback from a large customer base, numerous partners and our own sense of the industry.  We hope you agree.  But whether you agree or disagree – rational or emotional – please take a minute and let us know.  Because, as always, we are interested and care very much about your opinion.

I look forward to your comments.

John Volkmann is Corporate Vice President – Corporate Brand at AMD.  His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated,  AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

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