Lessons in briLLiant marketingonLy appLe wouLd think of using giant fLowers to advertise a watch!

appLe days

A 1980’s perspective of Apple UK by Gary Potter

3

after recently lecturing to a class of 16

and 17 year old students memories of

35 years ago flooded back to me.

I was talking about the ‘old’ and

‘new’ ways of designing and creating

brochures and advertising material.

One of the female students posed the

question: “which do you prefer, the

‘old’ or the ‘new’?” It made me ponder!

Casting my mind back to 1st October

1980 - I entered the upstairs offices

of Microsense Computers, Finway

Road, Hemel Hempstead - the Sole UK

Distributor for Apple Computer. The

first person I met was Gill Underwood,

Admin and Personnel Manager. I

never realised at that moment, I would

be renting a room from her for the

next 12 months!

microsensecomputers limitedSole UK Distributor for Apple Computer

4

I felt like Billy Elliot, coming from a working

class, industrial town in the Black Country,

I had very little knowledge of micro

electronics and only an awareness of what

an Apple Personal Computer could do. I’d

had a fantastic job at JCB until Margaret

Thatcher wiped the smile off my face, so

seeking employment I made the brave move

to the Home Counties, joining Microsense.

A completely different culture to the life

style back in the Midlands. People seemed

to have ‘money’!! A one bedroom flat on

Woodall Farm, Hemel was £22,000 – you

could buy a mansion for that in Walsall!

Microsense was a small business, I was the

21st employee, joining Stephen Brewer and

a young lady called ‘Cherry Watret’ in their

Marketing Department.

5

Two brothers, Stephen and Mike Brewer,

raised a substantial amount of capital

by remortgaging their homes to start

Microsense in 1979, having visited a

major computer fair in New York and

doing a deal with Steve Jobs. They

identified the potential of Personal

Computers and purchased 60 units

from Apple Computer Inc. Brought

the PC’s back to the UK, converted

the Power Supplies to 240 volts and

sold them through their existing dealer

network. The Brewers already owned

a computer peripherals company ‘Data

Efficiency’ and they could use their small

network of dealers to help market these

revolutionary desktop products.

After selling the initial 60 Apple II’s,

a further 60 were purchased from

California and sold again. From then on,

the consignments got bigger!

Stephen Brewer, Gary Potter,

Mike Spring and Hugh Chappell

Microsense and Apple UK

1979 - 1985

6

Apple - The BrandJobs and Wozniak had used the name

‘Apple’ to create a brand for their

company. The word ‘Apple’ is a non

specific word used in everyday English

grammar, available for everyone to use,

unlike specific words like Nike, Sony or

Dyson, for example.

This was a wise move by Jobs and

Wozniak because the word ‘Apple’ could

be related to the iconic Beatles record

label owned by Apple Records (Apple

Corps. Ltd)*.

I would say that naming the company

‘Apple’ helped extensively in making

Apple Computer Inc. a success, because

the name was iconic, it was familiar, it

had trust, and everyone liked John, Paul,

George and Ringo.

brave new worLd

It also had retail connotations because

in 1976, 45 rpm and 33 rpm black plastic

records were purchased in the High

Street. ‘Apple’ worked, it made people take

notice, and it already had ‘trust’. A brilliant

move!

Combine this brand with the Apple

II product, which was a workhorse; it

was reliable, it had expandability, it was

versatile and adaptable. In addition,

there was a huge range of software and

hardware products available. It was the

combination of these qualities which

established it within the marketplace

during those very volatile and precarious

early days. Remember – at that time the

public were only just getting used to hand

held calculators!!

7

8

MarketingDrivenI was brought in to help Cherry Watret,

Marketing Manager, expand the now 50 or so

dealer network and support them with Stephen

and Mike’s marketing strategy.

Cherry and I would trek up and down the

country in our British Leyland Minis, not only

building exhibition stands, but manning them at

the Which Computer Show, Birmingham, or the

London Business Show, Earls Court. We held

numerous dealer conferences and seminars in

venues like the Wembley Conference Centre,

and exhibition halls in hotels in Birmingham,

Manchester and Glasgow.

The exhibition stands were built using low cost

Marler Haley systems, and within minutes of

the event opening we would get trampled on by

hundreds of people.

The exhibitions were supported by advertising

and PR in most of the computer press.

During the early 80’s a plethora of microcomputer

magazines evolved and Microsense used PR and press

advertising extensively to promoted Apple products and

develop their growing dealer network.

Making it happen!

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Through national advertising, using high profile

people like Freddie Laker and Patrick Lichfield

as case studies in the Times and Telegraph

newspapers, we generated thousands of

coupon sales responses and in return we would

send out literature packs and information

about Apple products with details of the

customer’s nearest Apple dealer.

This whole strategy was a very clever move by

Stephen Brewer, by using these high profile

people, it built further trust in the product.

The Apple Dealer Network grew to over 700,

and within 2 years, Microsense had expanded

from a tiny seed to a flourishing Times Top

1000 company. In 1982 Apple Computer Inc.

purchased Microsense and called it Apple

Computer (UK) Limited turning over in excess

of £20 million. Using today’s property values

as a benchmark, this would be equivalent to

around £150 million, with Apple UK proving to

be a major player in Apple’s growth.

10

During these early days, it was the shear

passion and spirit of the employees,

combined with their imagination, creativity,

hard work, determination and camaraderie

that helped the Apple UK operation expand

and fight off major competition from

IBM, Apricot, Hewlett Packard, Compaq,

Amstrad and the BBC Micro.

The excellent working relationships

between directors and employees was

remarkable, continuously working together

on exhibition stands and at dealer shows.

Outside of the US, compared to countries

like Germany and France, Apple UK was the

highest performer in terms of Apple II sales

and software development. By 1982 we had

helped Apple Computer Inc. achieve over

$1 Billion in sales.

competitio

n!

11

The first Apps!?While the ‘Freddie Laker and Patrick

Lichfield’ campaigns were attracting

general interest, working alongside this,

one of our most successful marketing

strategies was ‘Vertical Marketing’.

This is based on taking a product which

the average consumer doesn’t normally

relate to, in our case Personal Computers

which were not fully understood in 1981,

and make it appeal to consumers in a very

specific business sector, which in turn

creates strong interest and sales.

Apple dealers supported this and they

developed software for applications such

as small business accounting, building

& construction, dentistry, industrial

applications, the medical profession,

farming and agriculture.

12

Apple Software catalogueOne of my main responsibilities involved

the creation of the Apple Software

Catalogue, liaising with the Dealer

Network and software developers to

keep it up-to-date, creating the design

and artwork, organising the printing and

distribution to the dealer network.

The Catalogue helped drive the Vertical

Marketing campaign, gave us an

edge over competitors and was used

extensively at all major events such as

seminars, exhibitions and dealer shows.

Companies like Jarman Systems,

Lakeland Computer Systems, Computech

systems and dewco information systems

flourished as a result.

Software -

the life and

soul of the

computer,

enables the

hardware

to become

a fully

functional,

practical

working

tool.

13

Apple in EducationThe biggest vertical market sector

was ‘Education’, so in 1980 a specialist

UK Education Department was set

up, headed by Dave King (Microsense

and Apple UK) and supported by Jon

Covington, Apple Computer Inc.

Barry Holmes, former Head Teacher

at St. Helens County Primary School in

Cambridgeshire sums it up, “In the late

seventies, when personal computers

were really establishing themselves in the

business world, I became interested in

their value to education. I sat down with

my Deputy and examined the idea of how

one could help us. We then examined the

various products on the market, compared

each one’s merits, and finally made the

decision to buy Apple, which not only fitted

our criteria but was also being offered

at a very reasonable price by Personal

Computers of London”.

Dave King, Apple UK and

Jon Covington Apple Inc.

14

Steve JobsApple UK moved to Eastman Way,

Hemel Hempstead, where Steve Jobs,

Mike Spindler (Apple Inc.) and Richard

Haas (Apple Europe) would come over

to the UK, gather us in the staff canteen,

and talk to us!! Although ‘ultimately’ the

company portrayed a ‘Jeans Culture’

Steve dressed in sharp, double breasted

suits and wore a bow tie and colourful

braces. At 27 years old, he had a mature

persona, it was fascinating listening to

him convey his stories, advice and ideas

on what we were going to do next!!

By the summer of 1983, rumours of the

Apple Macintosh were now turning into

reality, shipments of early models, empty

cases for photographic purposes plus

hardware components and software

were sent to us for UK development.

Mike Spindler

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autumn 1983I liaised with Joanna Hoffman, Steve Job’s

Apple Macintosh Marketing Manager, in Apple

Cupertino, writing and developing the UK

Macintosh brochure and advertising material.

From England, I would wait till 5.00pm UK time,

phone Joanna as it would be about 9.00am

US time, and ask her to send over various

marketing materials. Using the Post Office

air mail system and Telex, she would send me

heaps of transparencies and suggested text

– these days we wouldn’t think twice about

emailing them within seconds.

In the UK, we felt that the American brochure

didn’t convey the Mac message directly enough

to appeal to a British audience. The US front

cover displayed a Mac being lifted from a case,

with the message ‘Of the 235 million people in

America, only a fraction can use a computer’.

This would not have worked in the UK.

Joanna Hoffm

an

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Christmas 1983We preferred a more ‘simple and

direct’ approach: ‘If you can point, you

can use a Macintosh’. This instantly

conveyed how ‘user friendly’ the Mac

is and available for everyone. With this

title in mind I wrote and designed the

first Apple UK Macintosh brochure,

using on the front cover, a combination

of photographs to reflect the message,

superimposing 3 photographs on top

of one another. Adobe Photoshop

didn’t exist then!

The inside pages directly compared IBM

with Apple Mac technology, showing

how pointing and clicking on ‘icons’ was

far more user friendly than keying in

complex command codes.

17

January 1984At a London theatre the

Apple Macintosh was

launched in late January

1984 portraying the iconic

1984 advert directed by

Ridley Scott which we, as

a marketing department,

assisted in its production.

1984

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Vertical Marketing remains as a powerful marketing toolFollowing the launch of the Apple

Macintosh, it became apparent that

‘Vertical Marketing’ was fundamental in

developing sales.

The Apple Macintosh, with its ability

to produce clear fonts on screen using

black on white graphics, was ideal for

the design, advertising, printing and

publishing industry. During the mid

80’s, programs like Aldus Pagemaker

and Adobe Illustrator were being

rapidly developed to work with the

Apple Desktop Laser Printer - and the

term, ‘What you see is what you get’

was coined.

What you see is

what you get!

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software DevelopmentAs the Apple Macintosh product

developed so did the software,

establishing the Mac in the marketplace

and revolutionising the newspaper, book,

publishing, graphic design, advertising

and photographic industries. Gone

were the traditional skills required to

create artwork, film and plates, the

Mac automated artwork production,

connecting directly to imagesetters,

eradicating the use of rubilith masking

film, or the need for manually stripping-

in four colour scan sets to create

photographic images.

No other PC manufacturer compared to

this during the mid 80’s.

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Apple Macintosh today!Today, although the original principle

is the same, pointing and clicking icons,

the present Apple Macs have moved on

considerably, the screen becoming much

larger, with a flatter metal body, and the

electronics much more powerful.

Software has become highly

sophisticated with Quark Xpress, the

Adobe Creative Suite and most recently

‘Online Artwork Creation’ software,

helping customers save time and money

on artwork production and giving them

greater control.

21

conclusionFrom 1976 to present day, I have to thank Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula,

Mike and Stephen Brewer. They were the pioneers and risk takers. We also need to

reconise Apple’s employees who’ve come and gone, plus the huge dealer network that

evolved in the US and Europe, they have contributed to history, helping to create one of

the world’s most iconic brands and a digital age as we know it today.

Apple’s success has been due to its ‘revolutionary’ approach towards technology. It could

be described as being: daring, risky, pioneering, even crazy and sometimes painful, but

it got there, becoming bigger than IBM, a company which had a turnover larger than the

Gross National Product of Australia in 1982.

Let’s hope the present management team can and will continue to apply this revolutionary

spirit, because they certainly now have the resource.

All it needs is vision, imagination, determination and a yearning to be different!

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gary potterMaximising sales by marketing

Gary Potter graduated from De Montford University in 1977, with a 2.1 BA Hons Degree

in Industrial Design (Engineering).

He worked for JCB Sales, in their Marketing Department, and then for Apple Computer

(UK) Limited, helping to establish Apple PC’s in the UK and later launching the Apple

Macintosh in 1984. After Steve Jobs left the company, Gary moved over to Pirelli UK as

Marketing Manager for their retail garage servicing, and fleet tyre divisions.

In 1995, Gary formed his own design, artwork and marketing company which is still

flourishing today.

Gary believes in keeping technology at the forefront of his business helping to maximise

quality in design and print, combined with optimum efficiency, while keeping costs down.

Gary helps charity organisations around the West Midlands, and is a Trustee of Central

Youth Theatre. He also edits and designs his local Church magazine.

If you wish to contact him: Tel: +44 (0)121 569 7785

www.clik.uk.com

gary potter@sizzleonline

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gary-potter-86887032