Brands & Branding and Private Labels Case Study

AMD's 'Future is Fusion' Rebranding: Scripting a New Chapter?

OR

Abstract:
After a two-year corporate tag line 'Smarter Choice' that pegged it against the dominant market leader Intel, AMD undertook a rebranding exercise in 2008. It announced a new tag line - 'Future is Fusion', that reflected its focus on combining its traditional microprocessors and graphics chipsets. Its graphics business picked up after it acquired ATI Technologies in 2006. Whether the new tag line could help AMD arrest seven consecutive quarters of losses and return to profitability remained to be seen.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To explain the concept of rebranding.
• To understand the microprocessors and graphics market.
• To analyse the reason for the AMD-ATI merger.
• To examine the challenges for AMD in its corporate rebranding.

Keywords :  AMD, Rebranding strategy, Brand management, Advertising campaign, Fusion campaign, ATI Technologies, Smarter Choice, Future is Fusion, Product expansion, Semiconductor, Microprocessor, Graphic processing unit (GPU), Central processing unit (CPU), Mergers and acquisitions, x86 microprocessor market