(5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)
Loading ...Welcome to the first post of the AMD Unprocessed blog. This is where members of the Global Communications team will discuss with you news, social media, research and opinion relevant to AMD and the global PC industry. I’m John Taylor, director of global platform & product communications for AMD. From me you can expect discussions of the latest innovations, and how news media, social media and industry analysts mold conventional wisdom and shape perception of those innovations and the companies behind them.
Let’s begin with YouTube and the restless pursuit of viral video hits.
When Nigel Dessau joined AMD about a year ago, he drove a shift in our marketing toward activities designed to strike the bull’s eye of an intended target. For the launch of the AMD desktop technology PC platform codenamed “Dragon” and AMD Phenom™ II processors, the bull’s eye was people who like to build their own PCs for video editing and gaming. I refer to this crowd as “Those Who Know” (TWK, pronounced “tweak”) in that they understand how to build a world-class system for their specific pursuits without spending world-class amounts, and many of them like to overclock a processor to get even more performance than its official rating. I’m a level 1 TWK: I build my own systems, but you might not want me to build yours.
For our marketing and communications efforts, we really wanted to strike the target by showing that “Dragon” represented unparalleled value for TWKs. So we brought a few Level 10 TWKs at AMD to the forefront in our marketing: gifted engineers and technologists who love tuning the latest silicon to unlock maximum performance and value.
Two discrete arrows released at our target were videos handsomely edited to show world-record overclocking performances with PCs based on our Dragon platform technology in the hands of AMD’s best and champion overclockers from Finland.*
The older of the two videos dates only to CES09, and has clocked more the 400,000 views even with a runtime of 7 min. 36 sec. 662 comments to-date.
The newer video has only been up for a few weeks, and already has more than 100,000 views. This one is my favorite in how it conveys a sense of place while shooting on-location in Finland. 219 comments thus far.
I argue the vast majority of these views represent the bull’s-eye. The video subject is primarily of interest to TWK types; it’s decidedly not as mainstream as watching YouTube highlights of, say, Premier League goals.
That’s ½ million views combined and counting. Incredible stuff for a semiconductor design company, however some of the biggest viral marketing video hits have clocked 2X, 4X or more that number of views.
Let’s examine the other end of the spectrum of marketing video hits. How about the Cadbury Dairy Milk “A glass and a half full of joy” videos and ads. This is the U.K.’s best-selling candy bar. This is a multi-million Euro (http://www.confectionerynews.com/The-Big-Picture/New-Cadbury-TV-ad-to-drive-dairy-milk-sales) ad campaign that plays well on YouTube. The two AMD videos, in contrast, cost a tiny fraction of that to produce and were not created for a media buy.
The eyebrows video employs whimsical, fresh images set to old-school hip hop (“Don’t Stop the Rock” by Freestyle) to make a tie to the word “joy” in the candy bar tagline. More than 2.5 million views on YouTube and counting.
This video doesn’t tell us about the milk chocolate candy bar, how it tastes, or how it is Fairtrade certified (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7923385.stm). It purely entertains, in the name of “joy.” Same as a chocolate bar. But the connection is abstract.
So, web marketers, which would you prefer? Several million whimsical views that abstractly connect to your product brand? Or 500,000 views that hit your bull’s eye audience with a concrete message?
Well, Cadbury Dairy Milk sales speak for themselves, and “AMD Phenom II” is among the top searched-for products on sites like newegg.com that cater to TWKs like me. As Forrest Gump said, “Perhaps it’s both.”
* Note: AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is enabled via AMD software.
John Taylor is Director, Global Platform & Product Communications 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.
(4.90 out of 5)
#1 by Xavie - March 23rd, 2009 at 17:41
I’d take targeted to non-targeted viewers 1-to-10 any day. The general population just doesn’t care about GPUs, CPUS, MHz or GHz.
Comparing it to this chocolate video isn’t completely fair though. How many people would watch a video of a chocolate taste test?
#2 by John Taylor - March 31st, 2009 at 17:26
Xavier, you’re right that it’s hardly an apples to apples comparison. As one of my AMD mentors pointed out to me, the chocloate bar is an impulse buy, while the PC is a considered purchase. My response was that even so, nothing in the Cadbury video, despite its popularity, gave me the impulse to buy that chocolate bar. It’s like the Taco Bell chihuahua example – a pop culture hit that didn’t translate to more taco sales. So “impulse” or “considered” purchase aside, is it worth doing a viral video for the sake of 3 million views if none of those views leave a concrete impression about your product?
#3 by david hargreaves - March 24th, 2009 at 08:59
The bullseye every time. As AMD’s agency it is refreshing to work with a client that is focussed on the audience it is trying to reach through the different channels rather than following the ‘if we build it, they will come’ school of engagement.
Another great example of an ad agency approach to social media was the flawed Skittles experiment. The ad approach is: we will spend money, build it and then reveal it to the world with dramatic impact. Wrong! See more on this at http://blog.bitepr.com/2009/03/10/the-great-skittles-experiment-hit-or-miss/
#4 by John Taylor - March 31st, 2009 at 17:43
Thanks David. I summarize our collective points this way: There used to be a saying in the PR agency business of “not being creative for creative’s sake.” On sites like YouTube, I see a fair number of companies seemingly working with agency partners to create “viral content for the sake of viral.” Let’s strive for creativity that expresses a concrete value proposition, even if it means giving up that extra million views of hollow buzz.
#5 by 4rtw4re - March 25th, 2009 at 02:32
AMD user usually different people who have sense or who know the different with other processors.
in my country there is not to much using AMD’s but people who use amd for their computer are special people example is multimedia editor , graphic designer, movie animator.
#6 by John Taylor - April 14th, 2009 at 14:45
It sounds like, in your country, AMD is better known among the professional community than the broad consumer community. Hopefully, word-of-mouth from the professionals finds its way to the consumers and the salespeople who recommend PC purchases. Thanks for reading the Unprocessed blog.
#7 by Jose Luis Fernandez - April 27th, 2009 at 16:12
Amazin’ concept that of the TWK. You talk about both ends Level 1 and level 10.. Did you developed what would be the full ladder? Mean what kind of abilities/knowledge would take the intermediate steps? Just sound atractive enough to be used in trainings / exams.. that is what I do most