Acer has cut an exclusive deal with Harvey Norman to relaunch the failed Gateway “Cow” brand in Australia as a fashion item PC. The new models will go on sale from 14th August.
In the past Gateway products have been sold online, via Gateway shops and via mass retailers yet despite this extensive marketing, the brand was withdrawn from the Australian because of poor sales.
Now Acer Australia, who are themselves struggling in the PC market, is attempting to position the brand as a “fashion item” PC up against offerings from Sony, Apple, HP and Compaq.
Back in 2007 Acer paid $710 million to acquire the struggling Gateway brand, also in the bidding at the time was Chinese vendor Lenovo.
At the time, analysts said that they feared Acer was paying too much for Gateway.
In Australia, Acer – who are not seen as a strong marketing company – are now trying to use the black and while Gateway cow brand to lure fashion conscious buyers according to Harvey Norman sources.
This will see Acer compete up against brands such as Sony and Apple who have strong creative advertising agency relationship, external PR companies and strong online marketing campaigns.
Currently, Acer has no major creative advertising agency after sacking George Patterson early in 2007, and no external PR company.
Two weeks ago Bert Noah the head of Acer’s PC operations, quit the company claiming that a lack of marketing investment and poor PR was “restricting growth of the Acer brand in Australia”.
The move to launch the Gateway brand in Australia, according to former Acer staff, has been on the cards for over 12 months with the Acer brand set to be repositioned for “tech savvy” users.
The new Gateway branded products will be in Harvey Norman stores from August 14th.
Launch models have been split into five target markets: the netbook LT series, the mid-weight NV series, the CULV based EC series, the premium ID series and the P series FX (the gamer focused laptop), and will be in-store 14 August.
