Company: AMD, Austin, TX
Company Description: AMD (NYSE: AMD) designs and integrates technology that powers millions of intelligent devices, including personal computers, tablets, game consoles and cloud servers that define the new era of surround computing. AMD solutions enable people everywhere to realize the full potential of their favorite devices and applications to push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information, visit www
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Specialty
Nomination Sub Category: Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million)

Nomination Title: The Campaign That Cost Less Than A Keg of Beer

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 525 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

OBJECTIVES

In April 2013, AMD was preparing to introduce the AMD Radeon™ HD 7990 graphics card, the world’s fastest. AMD’s PR and marketing teams sought to execute a campaign that would drive pre-launch buzz among an online community of influencers and enthusiasts, but without disclosing any performance data that could advantage a competitor.

STRATEGY

AMD understood that if it could hide a compelling news nugget somewhere online that only a small group of influential press and social influencers would discover, engaged news-hungry gamers would ensure that the AMD story would go viral. But AMD challenged its team to execute the strategy with tactics that would deliver exceptional return on investment. How could AMD maximize eyeballs, deliver thought leadership, generate purchase preference and achieve global awareness all for the price of a keg of beer?

TACTIC

AMD decided to use eBay to auction off an engineering sample of the AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card, days before the product’s official launch date, a move that was certain to attract community attention without any help from AMD, and an anticipated bidding war was projected to drive social mentions and news stories. AMD also understood that the apparent leak of the world’s fastest graphics card would drive conversation in gaming forums, and the inevitable high bid price would also increase product desirability among gamers and give it some added ‘cool factor’.

Executing the campaign would be almost too cheap to meter. All that was needed was an eBay account, a check for the maximum selling fee of $250, product photos and a short description of the world’s fastest graphics card.

EXECUTION

Internal staff members were informed, including the VP of sales, VP of communications and the marketing groups as well as the corporate investigations department. But certain departments were deliberately not informed of the stunt (for example, customer service) so that their reactions and responses to customer inquiries would be completely genuine. Eight days before the official product announcement date - an internal AMD employee placed a “leaked” AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card up for auction with two photos, product specifications, engineering code name and the following description: You are bidding on the world’s first ‘Malta’ graphics card – engineering sample. Don’t miss your chance to be the first to own the world’s fastest graphics card. AMD quietly promoted the auction item to help the listing gain momentum, but it did not take long before the listing started receiving organic bids from all over the world.

EVALUATION OF SUCCESS/RESULTS/ROI

Within two days the item reached $96,100 after a total of 104 bids – an incredible feat given that the retail value of the graphics card is approximately $1,000 USD. Over fifty articles posted globally, totaling 15.8 million press and social media impressions. The stunt drove nearly 1,000 online conversations, and over 2600 tweets.

When the card finally hit e-tail shelves, Newegg.com reported that the AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card was consistently selling out hours after being listed. Across all retail channels, the product consistently sold out due to high demand.

All for a total cost of $250.

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2. Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 125 words):

Chris Hook is Director of Global Public Relations, AMD. Before joining AMD, Hook oversaw corporate communications ATI Technologies GmbH, based in Munich, Germany. Hook has over 20 years of experience directing innovative global marketing, PR, and social media campaigns for a variety of technology companies, consumer brands, government leaders and non-profit organizations. Hook possesses a BA from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and a post-graduate certificate in corporate communications from Humber College in Toronto, Ontario.