AMD Nips at Intel's Corporate Base, $25M Pitch Will Tout 'Possibilities' - Advanced Micro Devices launches $25 million advertising campaign - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek, May 14, 2001 by Todd Wasserman

Continuing its push into the commercial market, chip maker Advanced Micro Devices this week will launch a $25 million global print campaign featuring customer testimonials.

Unlike past efforts from AMD, this latest round will focus on the brand, rather than specific products. Bob Kennedy, dir-advertising, said corporate decision-makers aren't wooed by speed-and-feed pitches. "They want to understand what this company is about," he said, noting that most were already aware of AMD, but associated the company with its consumer offerings.

To address that perception, the new campaign, via Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Boston, features real-life success stories from companies and institutions that use AMD chips. The first execution, breaking this week, shows how Frog Design, San Francisco, was able to design a car for Ford Motor in 10 weeks--the process usually takes a year or so. The headline reads, "AMD Makes it Possible". AMD does not currently have a tag.

Four more ads, expected to run until year's end, will spotlight a school district that used AMD chips to bring technology into classrooms and a Web-hosting company that uses AMD chips in its servers, Kennedy said.

Placement includes business pubs like Business Week and The Wall Street Journal plus trade books. Meanwhile, AMD's consumer advertising will take the form of POP and retail-focused efforts, Kennedy said.

AMD began targeting the corporate market at the beginning of the year. The area is currently dominated by AMD's archrival Intel, (Brandweek, May 7).

While AMD has made inroads with resellers who use the chips to configure their own devices, so far AMD chips are not used in any commercial systems by major PC vendors.

AMD spent $11.4 million in the U.S. last year, per Competitive Media Reporting. By contrast, Intel spent $117.2 million during the same period.