AMD has trademarked a bunch of goofy names for Zen

[Rifter]

They should call it the General Custer.

Because this is literally AMD's last stand in desktop CPU's, they screw this up its game over for good.

 

[ElFenix]

Ah.

Since the phenomenon was confined to the US of A (we'll not speculate as to why it was confined to there...), I never heard of it.

n/m

 

[DrMrLordX]

They should call it the General Custer.

Because this is literally AMD's last stand in desktop CPU's, they screw this up its game over for good.

Despite being a bad-ass general of his day, I doubt such a name would inspire confidence for AMD's future. Besides, Custer had a pr0n career that we'd all rather forget. Well, probably.

 

[Atari2600]

Hmmm.... tying in with the current Polaris codenames...

AMD Andromeda
AMD Comet
AMD Centarus

or more loosely (and perhaps better)

AMD Mercury
AMD Gemini
AMD Apollo

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Marketing clearly reached the pinnacle during the whole black ice ultra max phase.

 

[Blitzvogel]

I think just purely using the name "Zen" is easily marketable, with new generations taking on a II, and III moniker like the Pentium did. General consumers are not going to understand or remember all the designation numbers, so let the sticker on the laptop or desktop say "4/6/8 Core AMD Zen I/II/III". Intel just says "4th/5th/6th Generation" to differentiate across multiple gens and it gets the point across, plus you always have the minimally trained salesman to sort of explain it to the consumer.

A possible Zen CPU family designation system across three generations:

AMD Zen -- ZX-1432 (1st Gen, 4-Cores, 3.2 GHz)
AMD Zen II -- ZX-2432 (2nd Gen, 4-Cores, 3.2 GHz)
AMD Zen III -- ZX-3432 (3rd Gen, 4 Cores, 3.2 GHz)

Alternate Zen CPU family designation system (for a single gen), using an Intel approach so consumers understand that generally higher numbers mean more of something in a product family:

AMD Zen Z4-1432 (1st Gen, 4-Cores, 3.2 GHz)
AMD Zen Z6-1632 (1st Gen, 6-Cores, 3.2 GHz)
AMD Zen Z8-1832 (1st Gen, 8-Cores, 3.2 GHz)

In the end, the best thing AMD can do is absolutely OWN the Zen name. Do not treat it jokingly, market the shit out of it and make people think of your product when they think "Zen". AMD sucks at marketing, they always have. While I hate the cancerous hipster millenial humor that we see in commercials, some millenial in a meditating pose floating up in the air telling his friend he's found Zen not in meditation, but in his computer would get the point across. The 15 second commercial would end with a flash of the AMD & Zen logo with whatever quick jingle AMD has. Another commercial would be some Yoga instructor in some crazy pose telling his students you can find Zen in that laptop he's pointing at.

The marketing for a name like Zen comes naturally. AMD just needs to put up the TV and Youtube advertising dollars, and OWN IT without being amateurish like they always are.

 

[superstition]

My opinion is that objectively owning the concept of Zen means treating it with respect. That's not going to be very marketable with much of the target market. Westerners aping Eastern concepts badly to market a product like in those examples is likely to make any relatively sophisticated shopper at least roll their eyes. I know that rancid Flo character for Progressive and all this pseudo-irony is huge in marketing but it's stale and lowbrow. I will give Flo one thing, though, she's not a talking gecko.

Something more neutral and direct like AMD III can be as heavy-handed and Westernized as possible (something they tried to do with the construction names) but the name itself isn't corny and its neutrality gives it a lot of flexibility in terms of how it can be presented. The only risk is that the presentation will be too bland. But, that's where decent imaging comes in. I think working aurally with the rhyme could have potential. "AMD... three". It works a lot more aurally than Pentium III did.

 

[Ancalagon44]

My opinion is that objectively owning the concept of Zen means treating it with respect. That's not going to be very marketable with much of the target market. Westerners aping Eastern concepts badly to market a product like in those examples is likely to make any relatively sophisticated shopper at least roll their eyes. I know that rancid Flo character for Progressive and all this pseudo-irony is huge in marketing but it's stale and lowbrow. I will give Flo one thing, though, she's not a talking gecko.

Something more neutral and direct like AMD III can be as heavy-handed and Westernized as possible (something they tried to do with the construction names) but the name itself isn't corny and its neutrality gives it a lot of flexibility in terms of how it can be presented. The only risk is that the presentation will be too bland. But, that's where decent imaging comes in.

I really wouldn't care if they named it after an Eastern concept but misapplied it. I'm not a believer in cultural appropriation so it doesn't bother me at all, and personally I don't think it would bother 90% of the target market. They just don't care.

However, I don't think that Zen will be used for the simple reason that it might be difficult to trademark the name Zen. You can trademark Phenom, Athlon and Pentium, but probably not Zen.

 

[superstition]

I don't think that Zen will be used for the simple reason that it might be difficult to trademark the name Zen. You can trademark Phenom, Athlon and Pentium, but probably not Zen.

That was my post on the first page.

 

[zinfamous]

However, I don't think that Zen will be used for the simple reason that it might be difficult to trademark the name Zen. You can trademark Phenom, Athlon and Pentium, but probably not Zen.

That was my post on the first page.

If that's a problem, then I'll sell them my trademark for "Zin." The valuable hipsters demographic are too stupid to realize the difference, and I'm cheap: $3 million flat and it's AMD's TM for life.

 

[superstition]

The People's History of CPUs?

Zin doesn't mean anything and has no cachet. It doesn't even do anything interesting with the name AMD (unlike III which rhymes). But, it's not as awful as Ryzen and Threadripper.

 

[zinfamous]

Zin doesn't mean anything and has no cachet. It doesn't even do anything interesting with the name AMD (unlike III which rhymes). But, it's not as awful as Ryzen and Threadripper.

did you just cost me $3 million? I'll see you in court, bro!

 

[superstition]

Vara sounds like a goddess (or demigod), like Hera and Athena.

I guess an ad campaign could show a female goddess knight with a sword, with lightning, laurels, and whatever. It could be interesting if done tastefully (no big breasts or negative facial expressions, just stern and powerful). If one really wants to be cute she could be holding the cut-off Medusa head of Intel in some fashion.

This sort of look-to-the-past realistic/complex visuals advertising was a bit of a thing back in the 70s (see the oldest Apple promos), although it certainly wasn't done with the level of glitz and complexity CGI could give it. Doing a campaign involving impressive CGI rendering has the halo effect of highlighting AMD's graphics business, too. For box art, of course, the complexity would have to be minimized for higher impact. A big V with her sword (and maybe a laurel wreath) could work, maybe with her eyes on another part of the box.

If I were going to use any of those names in the Western world it would be Vara and I would make her into some sort of powerful figure. Joro and Jitzu might be able to be male characters for Asian marketing. Ryzen and Threadripper should be relegated to the dustbin.

 

[nopainnogain]

In Portuguese, "vara" means "stick", with strong sexual connotation. "Varuna" is a Hindu God.

AMD should hire a poet. No kidding. What a bad bunch of names.

 

[superstition]

In Portuguese, "vara" means "stick", with strong sexual connotation. "Varuna" is a Hindu God.

Regardless, it's still better than the rest of them.

I'll also say that finding something not already trademarked that's decent is very very very difficult. Then, trying to satisfy all the world's languages simultaneously on top of that...

AMD just needs to use a decent name for English speakers. If it is bad somewhere else then use a different name to market it there.

 

[nopainnogain]

I'll also say that finding something not already trademarked that's decent is very very very difficult. Then, trying to satisfy all the world's languages simultaneously on top of that...

Yes, to satisfy all of them is impossible. But to satisfy at least the ten most spoken languages seems to be feasible (and desirable).

AMD just needs to use a decent name for English speakers. If it is bad somewhere else then use a different name to market it there.

I think that, in the Internet era, just one name should be the ultimate goal. Just my opinion though. I know it's not easy.

 

[Headfoot]

Yes, to satisfy all of them is impossible. But to satisfy at least the ten most spoken languages seems to be feasible (and desirable).

I think that, in the Internet era, just one name should be the ultimate goal. Just my opinion though. I know it's not easy.

Interesting you mention this wrt all the trademark talk in this thread. I work adjacent to trademark practice and dabble in it occasionally. Major brands like Starbucks actually do hire out local law firms to do exhaustive searches on the name including vulgarity checks for not only the name, but transliterations of the primary trademark's language too. They check this against many / all of their markets. Results in quite large searches across dozens of languages and cultures. Very expensive. I'm not sure AMD's TM strategy is as sophisticated as Starbucks (they are likely leading edge on this) but they've got to be pretty good if they want to be a billion dollar company.

 

[nopainnogain]

Interesting you mention this wrt all the trademark talk in this thread. I work adjacent to trademark practice and dabble in it occasionally. Major brands like Starbucks actually do hire out local law firms to do exhaustive searches on the name including vulgarity checks for not only the name, but transliterations of the primary trademark's language too. They check this against many / all of their markets. Results in quite large searches across dozens of languages and cultures. Very expensive. I'm not sure AMD's TM strategy is as sophisticated as Starbucks (they are likely leading edge on this) but they've got to be pretty good if they want to be a billion dollar company.

This is very interesting. I guess that Starbucks' profit margins are huge... They transform coffee and flour into gold... So they have all the money they need to perform such large searches.

Who knows better his own language (and, most of the time, a lot of other languages)? The poet. I mean, not a mere rhymer, but a real poet, or even an inventive prose writer, known or unknown, famous or not. I would invest in such people if I were "in the business". Because real poets are not limited to research: they can invent. And because they are in the poetry business (and not in the marketing business), they are able to invent good poetry (good names).

Of course, I can be totally wrong. But, if I'm not, I hope that Lisa Su read this and send me a Ryzen (or a Vega) in retribution.

 

[Headfoot]

I mean, they already filed for THREADRIPPER so there's no good names left out there. They already peaked.

 

[sirmo]

I like Ryzen. Mainly I like that it has Zen in it. I think if they could, they probably would have just kept Zen, but I am sure trademarking Zen would be a legal minefield.

Yeah the name's a bit silly but, it's growing on me. Also it might appeal to the younger/gamer crowd which is really what counts. We old enthusiasts don't care what it's called. How does it run is all we care about.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I like Ryzen. Mainly I like that it has Zen in it. I think if they could, they probably would have just kept Zen, but I am sure trademarking Zen would be a legal minefield.

Yeah the name's a bit silly but, it's growing on me. Also it might appeal to the younger/gamer crowd which is really what counts. We old enthusiasts don't care what it's called. How does it run is all we care about.

Yep, I like that "Zen" has been kept as a name.

Just about always the code names are far more endearing than the actual retail names.

Even though it was a disaster Operating System, I always liked the code name of "Longhorn" for Vista.

So is Ryzen pronounced as "Risen" or "Rye-zen"?

I like the "Risen from the Dead" vibe.

 

[Rifter]

I mean, they already filed for THREADRIPPER so there's no good names left out there. They already peaked.

I dunno THREADRIPPER is kinda growing on me, i could see myself going for a new Zen CPU with THREADRIPPER technology inside. You know that is if they can bring its IPC into this decade.

 

[sirmo]

Yep, I like that "Zen" has been kept as a name.

Just about always the code names are far more endearing than the actual retail names.

Even though it was a disaster Operating System, I always liked the code name of "Longhorn" for Vista.

So is Ryzen pronounced as "Risen" or "Rye-zen"?

I like the "Risen from the Dead" vibe.

It's pronounced Rye-Zen.

 

[dark zero]

Ok, that name (Ryzen) ended to be the symbol of hype for the AMD fans and even the whole PC comunity. If we see AMD finally trying to get near Intel and succeed (I don't see beating them), that means that there are other ways to get near Intel besides the Apple one.

Also that would increase the hopes of the 3rd x86 competitor, VIA.

 

[superstition]

Who knows better his own language (and, most of the time, a lot of other languages)? The poet. I mean, not a mere rhymer, but a real poet, or even an inventive prose writer, known or unknown, famous or not. I would invest in such people if I were "in the business". Because real poets are not limited to research: they can invent. And because they are in the poetry business (and not in the marketing business), they are able to invent good poetry (good names).

Of course, I can be totally wrong. But, if I'm not, I hope that Lisa Su read this and send me a Ryzen (or a Vega) in retribution.

Poetry is only a step above basket weaving in the collective consciousness today. And baskets are objectively more useful.

This is very interesting. I guess that Starbucks' profit margins are huge... They transform coffee and flour into gold...

Don't underestimate the importance of their name in being able to do that. Very lofty. The coffee of the stars...

It also has "bucks" in it which:

a) Makes people feel like the bucks they're handing over is worth it. Vicariously rich.
b) Distracts people from handing over said bucks, too. They're too busy stargazing.

Major brands like Starbucks actually do hire out local law firms to do exhaustive searches on the name including vulgarity checks for not only the name, but transliterations of the primary trademark's language too. They check this against many / all of their markets. Results in quite large searches across dozens of languages and cultures. Very expensive.

Well, yes, of course. Companies have been burned publicly by names that have sexual connotations in particular elsewhere. I still think people need to be capable of seeing their own language separately of others'. Just give a product a different name in another market if the other name doesn't work there. It's not like you don't have all sorts of localization adjustments happening to products themselves, like being able to get hash brown pies or whatever they are in Japan but not in the US at McDonald's. If the products themselves can be so different what's do difficult about changing a name?