ATI Hires PR firm for North America

[gostriker]

Personally I have a hard time seeing a demo as a viral asset. But the aeg scandel did make me aware of viral marketing and as a result - I believe even less of what I read about personal experiences and opinions. Disapointing, but not surprising that ATI have decided that this is a good bang for the buck versus traditional advertising.

 

[Arty]

I am mainly combating some of the trolls who feel they need to go on damage control from this news

So self-admittedly you are feeding the trolls?

Anywhoo, I dont think this is as bad as Nvidia's sneaky program getting unearthed, however harmless that was.

 

[Geo]

Personally I have a hard time seeing a demo as a viral asset.

Anything from a manufacturer that makes you voluntarily go "hey gosh, did you see this?" to your friends/community is a "viral asset", and the better it is at making that trip to the third and fourth and fifth generation (etc) of "hey goshers" from the original one, the better it is as a "viral asset". The "viral asset" that doesn't make it past the first set of people to hear the "hey gosh" sucks as a viral asset. So the cooler something is, the better it is as a viral asset. Hence my comment; Toy Shop is pretty darn cool. The very, very bestest viral assets require only one first mover pointing at it one time (this is called "seeding a viral asset") to zip around their target audience.

 

[Kombatant]

I was going to write something funny and insightful, but I haven't had my coffee yet so I can't come up with anything So I will merely agree that viral marketing has many forms, not all of them are bad necessarily - we'll see how this pans out I guess.

 

[digitalwanderer]

I'm frequenting that thread (as Nelsieus) so you might be referring to me, or not (don't know but won't take offense if you are.) I am mainly combating some of the trolls who feel they need to go on damage control from this news (particularly Ackmed).

Nah, I'm not dissing any particular posters...just the general mob mentality that seems to take over there.

That and the nested quotes. I mean seriously, WTF is up with that? Has no one mentioned to the posters there how much more database space that takes up or how hard/ugly it makes threads to read?

I'm just not a real big fan of Anand's forums, sorry. I mean no insult to anyone personally over it, if I mean personal insult I try real hard to make sure it's known.

 

[Geo]

Nah, I'm not dissing any particular posters...just the general mob mentality that seems to take over there.

They seem way more into the personality clashes over there is part of it. It appears to me that some of them don't bother to form their opinion independantly; just check the poster and take an opposite position with maximum vitriol.

But we should let the "bash AT forums" threadlet die, methinks.

 

[digitalwanderer]

But we should let the "bash AT forums" threadlet die, methinks.

QFTx100000!

 

[WaltC]

I'm still of the opinion that viral marketing, whether conducted directly or indirectly, is one of the greasiest forms of marketing being used. It’s disappointing, though not surprising, to see ATI employing an agency to do it for them.

I agree, although I am disappointed to see ATi mention it all. Good products don't mandate the viral approach--only bad ones do, imo.

 

[Geo]

Meanwhile, over at Green Team PR HQ. . .I received the July Maximum PC today, which included a 24 pg glossy flyer full of nuttin' but NV and the TWIMTBP partners in a green love fest o' joy.

No, this isn't OT. Just more proof that HRC has their work cut out for them getting ATI's PR efforts into the same league of visibility and effectiveness that NV PR plays in.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Thats just cold hard cash those types of things Geo. TWIMTBP booklets have been found in magazines over here for a long time.

 

[Geo]

They're either monumentally silly (because this is not a cheap thing to do). . .or that kind of spending works.

Edit: I should say by "works" I mean brings in more money than it costs, and is thus self-financing. That's the test for any investment.

 

[Tim Murray]

I agree, although I am disappointed to see ATi mention it all. Good products don't mandate the viral approach--only bad ones do, imo.

Oh good Lord, marketing is marketing. Every product requires marketing because people are sheep and will buy whatever they're familiar with. If they're familiar with it because of an advertisement on a billboard, they're still familiar with it. If they saw I Love Bees or one of the goofy Doctor Who tie-in sites, they are familiar with Halo 2 or Doctor Who or whatever. If ATI had a page where you could play mini-games to reveal more information about R600 or some crap like that, yes, it would count as viral marketing. Get a clue.

 

[Geo]

I received an email from High Road tonight from one Heather Steele that shows she's reading this thread; so hiya, Heather! :smile:

She's certainly saying the right things at this point about High Roads intent and philosophy, so I'm personally inclined to not come to any negative conclusions unless/until evidence appears contrariwise.

 

[gostriker]

Anything from a manufacturer that makes you voluntarily go "hey gosh, did you see this?" to your friends/community is a "viral asset", and the better it is at making that trip to the third and fourth and fifth generation (etc) of "hey goshers" from the original one, the better it is as a "viral asset". The "viral asset" that doesn't make it past the first set of people to hear the "hey gosh" sucks as a viral asset. So the cooler something is, the better it is as a viral asset. Hence my comment; Toy Shop is pretty darn cool. The very, very bestest viral assets require only one first mover pointing at it one time (this is called "seeding a viral asset") to zip around their target audience.

Not so sure about that. My understanding is the viral asset is the guy behind the keyboards seeding those forums. The demo is an actual product.

 

[Tim Murray]

Not so sure about that. My understanding is the viral asset is the guy behind the keyboards seeding those forums. The demo is an actual product.

No, the viral asset is whatever makes people talk about whatever's being advertised. That can be a forum poster or an image or a website or an alternate-reality game. This is not necessarily as harmful as you make it out to be. Like I said earlier, what was disturbing with AEG is the initial reports of forum management and then Pete's account of being contacted by a rep.

 

[digitalwanderer]

No, the viral asset is whatever makes people talk about whatever's being advertised. That can be a forum poster or an image or a website or an alternate-reality game. This is not necessarily as harmful as you make it out to be. Like I said earlier, what was disturbing with AEG is the initial reports of forum management and then Pete's account of being contacted by a rep.

Were you in anyway paid or compensated for expressing that idea on these boards Baron?

 

[gostriker]

No, the viral asset is whatever makes people talk about whatever's being advertised. That can be a forum poster or an image or a website or an alternate-reality game. This is not necessarily as harmful as you make it out to be. Like I said earlier, what was disturbing with AEG is the initial reports of forum management and then Pete's account of being contacted by a rep.

Well this definition will certainly sanitize the term viral marketing. Me thinks that Ati is likely looking for forum management than.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I received an email from High Road tonight from one Heather Steele that shows she's reading this thread; so hiya, Heather! :smile:

She's certainly saying the right things at this point about High Roads intent and philosophy, so I'm personally inclined to not come to any negative conclusions unless/until evidence appears contrariwise.

At least they announced what they were doing right from the beginning, as opposed to it being "uncovered" as a clandestine operation like with AEG. I suppose that was the more sensible course, especially after the "AEG secret conspiracy scandal".

 

[Razor1]

At least they announced what they were doing right from the beginning, as opposed to it being "uncovered" as a clandestine operation like with AEG. I suppose that was the more sensible course, especially after the "AEG secret conspiracy scandal".

This is what ATi always does, being candid after its out in the open its being used, someone should be smelling like sh*t, but now smells like a rose

Really depends on what type of viral marketing it is, most of the people in the AEG focus groups really weren't doing viral marketing, at least from the people we know.

edit or which people are doing it, anyways instead of another witch hunt, doesn't really matter, other then a very few % viral marketing doesn't work that well.