The campaign, for a piece of new software that Microsoft designed for Apple computers, underscores how seriously Microsoft is taking its business with Apple, says Mr Kevin Browne, general manager of Microsoft's Macintosh business unit. Apple fans have usually regarded Microsoft, which produces the Windows operating system, as the enemy.

"We still run into a lot of people that believe Microsoft doesn't care about Macs," says Mr Browne. "Now we want to tell the story of how Microsoft is thinking anew about the Mac." Microsoft made an investment in Apple in 1997.

The campaign, which launches this week, is part of the Redmond, Washington, software company's release of its Microsoft Office 2001 software for Apple Macintosh computers. At the same time, Microsoft is rolling out a new ad and branding campaign for the product. An unusual feature of the campaign diminishes the placement of the Microsoft name in favor of a new logo that emphasises the Mac name. Microsoft wouldn't disclose an exact cost for the campaign but said it will be slightly less than $10 million.

The ad campaign, the biggest ever for Microsoft's two-year-old Macintosh division, features ads in national newspapers, in 11 regional newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle, and in several Apple-enthusiast publications.

The promotional push, which is expected to run through Christmas, features a new Apple-specific name and logo for the software product, called Office:Mac, replacing the previous and wordy, "Microsoft Office for the Macintosh." Taking a leaf from Apple's colourful merchandising materials, the Office:Mac logo will appear in brightly coloured lettering. The campaign was developed by a group of branding firms including Leonhardt Group, Seattle, and Landor Associates, San Francisco.

Microsoft's new ads for Office:Mac seek to emulate Apple's style. The series of four black-and-white ads feature different Apple computer users photographed against a clean white backdrop, much like ads for Apple's iMac desktops and other computers have been shot against a white backdrop. Little colour is used, except in a strip across the bottom where the thoughts of each computer user are accented.

In one of the ads, a smiling administrative assistant named Rita is featured against the white backdrop, with the Office:Mac logo floating to her left.

In a strip of orange at the bottom of the ad is a paragraph of text where Rita voices her thoughts about how she needs to communicate with her boss, customers and kids. Only in small text does the Microsoft name appear, reading: "Microsoft Office 2001. All the essentials. Made Easy. Made formy Mac."

In another ad in the series, a freelance graphic designer called Pan ruminates about using Office:Mac to make presentations to clients. A third ad features Jodi, a programme co-ordinator, talking about how she uses the software for research and e-mail.

"In our old ads, we were very text heavy and we focused on product, not people," says Mr Irving Kwong, a product manager at Microsoft's Macintosh business unit. "We wanted to change that."

Microsoft began doing research for its new Office 2001 branding and ad campaign more than eight months ago, says Mr Browne. Working with the Leonhardt Group, about 1,000 customers were interviewed extensively and asked how Microsoft is perceived in the Apple community. Many of the consumers who were surveyed said they didn't even know that Microsoft made software for Apple's computers.

For maximum impact, Mr Browne decided to play up the Mac name on the new Office 2001 software and to play down the Microsoft name. Mr Browne and Mr Kwong also decided that the software needed cool new packaging to stand out from other shelf displays. The team then began experimenting with a circular compact-disk casing made of clear plastic. A new line of store displays, created by Seattle-based marketing and ad agency BBFM, will also begin shipping at the same time as the new product.

The Wall Street Journal