Intel inside? Who cares?

Six billion PC-buyers ‘processor unaware’ says AMD’s Nigel Dessau, despite Intel spending ‘billions’ on advertising. “It’s time marketing executives stop hiding behind meaningless metrics and deliver clear ROI instead…”

“Our biggest competitor has spent billions of dollars trying to market to those [who don’t understand these kinds of technologies]. But you know what? I bet if you did the research ten years later you would find the same numbers of people are processor unaware as they were before.”

In an exclusive interview with the executive business channel MeetTheBoss.tv, AMD’s Chief Marketing Officer Nigel Dessau explains how marketing trends are changing; and how AMD is rising to the challenge this presents.

“I think in marketing you have to be careful, we’ve got to a place where we have introduced so many metrics that tell us everything, that actually help us to do nothing,” he explains. “At the end of the day it’s really about what are we going to do to generate profit of the company.”

But is it really that simple? In an age where processes such as social media and viral marketing are becoming just as critical to an organization’s marketing strategies as more traditional forms of messaging, CMOs run a real risk of becoming saturated by marketing options.

Dessau agrees, suggesting that too many marketing strategists are caught up with media channels that fail to really provide any real ROI. “It’s really about simplifying the message,” offers Dessau. “For everything [a consumer] buys there’s a good, better and best option.

“The question is how do [we] help a consumer understand whether the good, better or best is the right thing for them? Because otherwise what they default to is buying the cheapest option, which may not actually solve their problems: we have to get to a point where we are giving consumers a tool to work out whether they actually need anything higher on the scale.”

Of course, AMD has long been dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions both at work, at home and at play; and now, as the company looks to 2010 as a key opportunity to build on the strategic changes the company has already made, the way AMD is marketing itself has to play a part in that.

“It’s simple to say, it’s not so simple to do necessarily. We’re all under resourced currently and under budget, and we need to work out how we argue for more? How do we argue that the company invests in marketing and in go-to-market versus traditional engineering or sales? The answer lies in demonstrating that for every dollar we give, we give and we give back more.”
What’s more, says Dessau, marketing has to lead the way, has to inspire, and has to create excitement about a brand. “There are two things we do here,” says Dessau. “One is that we try and put the best leadership team in place and then we give people the chance to be promoted to that leadership team.

“You have to create a proper marketing career structure. There are some very basic things you have to do when you are creating any role in a company, but knowing that you’re there and supporting them and backing them and helping them solve their problems when they need you is the most important thing.”

Perhaps this is why Dessau believes AMD has been so successful, not least because the company has a track record of supporting consumers as much as there staff. “So that’s actually the thing I think AMD has done really interestingly in the last 200 days. Last September we stood up and we said, ‘You know what? We’re going to stop trying to convince the ‘processor unaware’ that they need to be aware.’

“At the end of the day, the market knows the answer. We have been doing research into areas of our business in the market, and everybody’s got an opinion, but the market knows the answer, and you just have to go and listen. If you listen, the market will give you the answer.”

To find out more about what AMD is doing to streamline their marketing ROI, please go to www.meettheboss.tv, where you can watch the interview in full. Registration is free.