AMD inside
AMD alienated much of its channel towards the end of 2006 when the channel was starved of its desktop parts. This coincided with the launch of some Dell desktops containing AMD CPUs, but AMD has always denied that was the cause. Either way, it apparently over-compensated in the other direction and Kenyon is now trying to strike the right balance between the channel and OEMs.
We asked Kenyon how he is adapting AMD's marketing strategy to reflect this, observing that AMD doesn't have the money to shout about itself the way Intel does through things like its long-running ‘Intel Inside' campaign.
"Shouting is a lot less effective than rebates," said Kenyon. "Recent data I've seen says that 86 percent of people who walk into mainstream retail haven't made their mind up about the platform, so it's really about the retail experience.
"A year ago, on a percentage of revenue basis, we spent more than Intel, but we weren't using it effectively. One of the things Intel has done over time is to change the money to get maximum effect. In the early days of ‘Intel Inside' it was really just about paying the OEM. Now it's got strings attached to it, they're very focused on where the incentives go. It goes up and down the entire line of people that need to be influenced to sell their product through.
"They've become a lot more sophisticated; some of it's legal, some of it isn't, but the idea is that it's really thought through and focused. We're not going to participate in screaming our brand at the consumer because, frankly, they need to know about us, and what we do differently, but they don't need to walk in saying I'm going to buy an AMD machine."