Compaq in $60m worldwide assault on IBM

Compaq is to tackle IBM head on in its first worldwide branding campaign. The campaign, which begins to roll out this week, will be worth $60m (45m).

Compaq is to tackle IBM head on in its first worldwide branding campaign.

The campaign, which begins to roll out this week, will be worth $60m (45m).

It will be handled by Ammirati Puris Lintas in the US and Japan, with Bates Dorland running the European push.

UK marketing director William Knocker says: “We do not want to position ourselves as just a PC company. We have grown and do a whole range of network computing functions which gives us the reach to move into IBM’s heartland.”

He adds: “We are a new breed of company. Instead of trying to do everything ourselves we work with quality partners like Microsoft and Oracle. You can grow a lot faster that way.”

The campaign, which includes global TV and press work, is likely to feature the company’s first British TV work for three years.

A new icon, “@”, will also appear in all the ads. Compaq is expected to spend about 10m of the budget in Europe.

Last week, Compaq launched price cutting campaign in the UK for its consumer and business computers and is not expected to start the global branding push until next year.