AMD extends Vision branding campaign to commercial computers

After the successful launch of a consumer branding campaign for its chips, Advanced Micro Devices is announcing today that it will take its AMD Vision campaign into the commercial PC market.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker will target small and medium businesses wit its AMD Vision Pro campaign, which simplifies the messaging behind its processor and graphics chips to focus on how they let users do different kinds of applications.
Leslie Sobon, vice president of worldwide product marketing at AMD, said in an interview that the consumer campaign launched in September exceeded expectations. The campaign takes what used to be 22 marketing categories for PCs and reduces them to just three: Vision Basic, Vision Premium, and Vision Ultimate.
“Now we are working to launch Vision in a way that makes sense for the SMB market,” she said.
The extension makes sense because a lot of small business owners use their computers for both home and personal use. They could benefit from a simplification of the selling process, just as consumers do.
Vision Basic machines get the job done; Vision Premium machines are used to consume digital media; and Vision Ultimate machines are used to create content. Sobon said that the company expected 75 percent of notebook computers using AMD chips to use the new branding; but 95 percent of AMD’s customers used it and that more than 150 different computers using it have either shipped or are planned. Customers worldwide are using the branding, including Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Acer, MSI, and others.
AMD has developed retail marketing materials and is training retailers to be knowledgeable about the campaign. The Vision Pro branding will be used by partners such as Lenovo, which is using AMD chips in its computers for the first time. Lenovo is the lead partner, but other companies such HP will use the branding as well. The Vision Pro brand will launch in notebook computers first and then expand into desktops in the first half of the year.
The Vision Pro brand is different from Intel’s own Vpro brand for businesses as it doesn’t focus on large enterprises, Sobon (pictured) said. And while Intel’s campaigns often focus on its processors, AMD touts both its processors and graphics chips in its Vision brand.