AMD EPYC Airport Ads Punch Close to the Belt

[btarunr]

Airports are the latest battleground for AMD and Intel as the two vie to catch the attention of IT managers in the midst of an AI and big-data inflection point that promises to trigger a gold rush for enterprise processors. AMD took to San Jose International Airport with its latest AMD EPYC static ads targeted at IT managers stuck with Intel Xeon for its historic market leadership. AMD EPYC processors offer "more performance, more security, and more value" than Intel Xeon processors, the ads claim, but not before landing a mean punch in the general area of Intel's belt.



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[Mr.Mopar392]

This lol this is quite clever amd! l

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

shots fired again.

 

[ssdpro]

The problem is, the ad is just catering to trolls that think it is funny to poke at Intel. I am not sure who the target audience would be. Any competent person responsible for buying business/corporate technology wouldn't do so based on airport ads. Any director of technology or IT admin knows you don't go out and grab the first gen of a new product that was designed and built on a shoe string budget. EPYC is in the proving stage right now. 2nd gen maybe, 3rd gen it is a viable alternative.

 

[Vayra86]

The problem is, the ad is just catering to trolls that think it is funny to poke at Intel. I am not sure who the target audience would be. Any competent person responsible for buying business/corporate technology wouldn't do so based on airport ads. Any director of technology or IT admin knows you don't go out and grab the first gen of a new product that was designed and built on a shoe string budget. EPYC is in the proving stage right now. 2nd gen maybe, 3rd gen it is a viable alternative.

I think this ad is touching the right notes for the right people. Those who acquire the hardware know very well about the age old feud between these two giants and its good to keep hammering in that something has radically changed. Out with the old, in with the new. It needs some catchy lines and fire like this.

The whole thing has a nice touch of nostalgia with it, references to that are very effective in 'our' age group I think. If you're just new to the world or just came round for a couple of years, you can't appreciate it for what it really is. Most youngsters that entered the world post 2013 only know some vague stuff about FX being a CPU that sucked but beyond that... AMD is all about GPU for them. And even for them its a great move because it shows that AMD is here to play on the highest end of the CPU spectrum too.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

dinosaurs once ruled our world! some still do, but lets not get into politics....

 

[_UV_]

"Be epic" or "isn't epic" i know it works for teenagers, do they think board of directors or even just IT department management so young?

 

[blobster21]

childish PR stunts

 

[Fluffmeister]

childish PR stunts

The CPUs are called EPYC, childish is the only way to go with these things.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I think what's lost in this story is the fact that the person involved with making these ads is an ex Intel employee.

 

[_UV_]

I think i knew the right expression they must use: EipPYe Ci-yay Intel.

 

[MT66]

childish PR stunts

Don't see it anymore childish than the "glued together" claim. Especially when Intel goes MCM.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

for some reason, the rhyming reminded me of that scene in Simpsons -- I think it was one of the bowling episodes where they made a rhyming chant that goes

"Come-on-Otto-that'll-be-our-motto"

 

[Mr.Mopar392]

childish PR stunts

28 core @5 giggle hertz, cooled by fridge is not childish? Stop your shills unless your on intel payroll.

 

[Foobario]

The problem is, the ad is just catering to trolls that think it is funny to poke at Intel. I am not sure who the target audience would be. Any competent person responsible for buying business/corporate technology wouldn't do so based on airport ads. Any director of technology or IT admin knows you don't go out and grab the first gen of a new product that was designed and built on a shoe string budget. EPYC is in the proving stage right now. 2nd gen maybe, 3rd gen it is a viable alternative.

One potential target market might be a CEO that has historically deferred all IT decisions to the CTO who may or may not think you can't get fired if you stick with Intel. These ads may lead to the CEO asking the CTO "How does our current server approach compare to this Epyc thing I keep seeing? Is it really cheaper and just as good, if not better?"

Of course, the CTO lies by saying "I'm checking it out. We have an AMD rep coming out next week to run us through what they offer, sir."

CTO then scurries away and calls AMD and pleads with them to send a rep over ASAP.

If this scenario plays out just one time leading to an EPYC sale, all this advertisement is paid for many times over.

 

[neatfeatguy]

for some reason, the rhyming reminded me of that scene in Simpsons -- I think it was one of the bowling episodes where they made a rhyming chant that goes

"Come-on-Otto-that'll-be-our-motto"

I like this one better from a song during a yard sale:

"Hey big spender! Dig this blender! Rainbow suspenders! He big spender!"

As for the advertisement, it's got you guys talking about it. That's the biggest thing right there, once people notice, getting them to talk about it. Seems like it's doing its job.

 

[Hood]

I guess they didn't get the memo about the basic tenet of advertising, which says that mentioning a competitors product in your ads tends to backfire and cause the viewer to remember your competitor more than the ad maker (exactly the opposite of their intentions). Not surprising from a company that names a product "Threadripper", "Bulldozer", or "Piledriver", more childish names that reek of empty braggadocio.

 

[Foobario]

When your competitor has, historically, held 99% of the market can you explain what part of the target market is not aware of the name Xeon? Even the 1% knows Xeon, as up until Epyc they were going to move to Xeon without a second thought.

The advertising tenet you mention does not apply to a brand new product being introduced into a market, essentially, completely dominated by one product.

If nothing else, this ad campaign will lead to some asking "What is Epyc?". Might also lead to to questions like "What is Xeon?" and the IT person's response might be "Oh, Xeon is the overpriced unsecure crap we used to run our servers with. We're moving to Epyc now. Have you ever heard of that?"

The original inquired might respond "Hmmmm....Epyc, seems I recall seeing that name at the airport too."

 

[Canon]

It's a giggle no matter what angle you look at it from

 

[Mr.Mopar392]

I guess they didn't get the memo about the basic tenet of advertising, which says that mentioning a competitors product in your ads tends to backfire and cause the viewer to remember your competitor more than the ad maker (exactly the opposite of their intentions). Not surprising from a company that names a product "Threadripper", "Bulldozer", or "Piledriver", more childish names that reek of empty braggadocio.

skylake, cannon lake, kaby lake are all childish names your point?

 

[timta2]

These types of advertisements essentially scream "I'm insecure!", in my opinion.

 

[Hood]

skylake, cannon lake, kaby lake are all childish names your point?

My point is I'm not 10 years old any more, and I never wanted to be a heavy equipment operator when I grew up. Tell us what's childish about the names of scenic lakes in Colorado, Montana, and Ontario, as code names for CPU architectures - that didn't really make any sense to me.

These types of advertisements essentially scream "I'm insecure!", in my opinion.

Good point. With advertising like this, they'll remain insecure for a long time. Instead, they should try to keep whatever dignity they can muster, and stop wasting money they can't afford on ill-conceived ads like this.

 

[oxidized]

shots fired again.

Last time didn't go so well...

 

[Jonathan Marcus]

Please do not write childish comments.
There is a comparison on Today's Reviews
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X vs. Intel Core i9-7960X TechGage
https://techgage.com/article/performance-face-off-amd-vs-intel-workstations/3/
You can read the article.
Test results show that, 16 Cores / 32 Threads AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X is as powerful as 16 Cores / 32 Threads Intel i9 7960X.
But AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X is $839.99 + $187.86 = $1.027,85
https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Threadri...ge-20&linkId=d836bd3e633977f4f53c072e68490c96
Intel i9 7960X is $1,435.40 + $90.55 = $1.525,95
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i...&linkId=c03f74edc810dcbc75602838885f90fe&th=1
Who wants to pay 50% more for the same performance?
Accept or not, Intel was the king of the processor industry but until Ryzen series arrived!
Now AMD has as good processors as Intel has.

Please do not write childish comments.
There is a comparison on Today's Reviews
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X vs. Intel Core i9-7960X TechGage
https://techgage.com/article/performance-face-off-amd-vs-intel-workstations/3/
You can read the article.
Test results show that, 16 Cores / 32 Threads AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X is as powerful as 16 Cores / 32 Threads Intel i9 7960X.
But AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X is $839.99 + $187.86 = $1.027,85
https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Threadri...ge-20&linkId=d836bd3e633977f4f53c072e68490c96
Intel i9 7960X is $1,435.40 + $90.55 = $1.525,95
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i9-7960X-Processors-BX80673I97960X/dp/B075XRYMDS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1531858747&sr=1-1&keywords=Intel+Core+i9-7960X&linkCode=sl1&tag=techgage-20&linkId=c03f74edc810dcbc75602838885f90fe&th=1
Who wants to pay 50% more for the same performance?
Accept or not, Intel was the king of the processor industry but until Ryzen series arrived!
Now AMD has as good processors as Intel has.

Hey I did not write on RGB mode. But why characters are in Blue and Red?

 

[lexluthermiester]

The problem is, the ad is just catering to trolls that think it is funny to poke at Intel.

It is always funny to poke fun at your competition. There's no harm in it.

Good point. With advertising like this, they'll remain insecure for a long time. Instead, they should try to keep whatever dignity they can muster, and stop wasting money they can't afford on ill-conceived ads like this.

That was anything but a good point, and your addition was worse. AMD is having fun bragging about their rather bad-ass new hotness and poking fun at Intel who is, by the raw numbers, lagging behind. Nothing wrong with it.