Apple opens 2.5m repositioning campaign to stress family appeal

Apple Computer is to reposition itself as a family computer supplier in the run-up to Christmas.

The company will spend 2.5m – its biggest budget to date – on TV, radio and press advertising through Abbott Mead Vickers. BBDO. The campaign, which features two separate ads, begins on November 6.

Consumer marketing manager Alan Hely says: “We are raising awareness of the Apple brand and telling consumers that we have a home computer product. We are trying to change the perception that we produce computers for education and for people in ‘arty’ jobs that need desktop publishing.”

The campaign will emphasise that home computers are easy to use and can benefit the whole family.

The first commercial features a family, showing how different members would use a computer if they had one.

The second focuses on a young boy who creates his own alarm clock using the computer.

In the US, Apple is running comparative advertising which calls into question the benefits of Microsoft’s rival operating system, Windows 95.