New Apple ads no longer preach to the converted

Apple’s making a concerted effort to interest Windows users in its product with a new advertising campaign. The new ad campaign is themed “Real People,” and it kicks off this week.

“These are not actors, they’re real people who have switched from PCs to Macs, telling their story in their own words,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “More people are interested in switching from PCs to Macs than ever before, and we hope that hearing these successful switchers tell their story will help others make the jump.”

The TV ads can be seen today on major cable networks like ESPN, CNBC, Comedy Central and Fox News and will appear this week on ABC’s Boston 24/7 and The Drew Carey Show, as well as NBC’s ER and NBA Finals broadcasts. Print ads are in this week’s issues of Time and Newsweek, and will appear this month in a number of other major magazines.

The new ads feature Windows users who have made a successful switch to the Mac. The TV ads were directed by famed documentarian Errol Morris, whose previous credits include “Gates of Heaven,” “The Thin Blue Line,” and “A Brief History of Time.” The ads were filmed using the Interrotron, a camera of Morris’ own creation that uses mirrors to help interview subjects look directly into the camera lens instead of off-screen at an interviewer.

The ads feature “a cross section of Windows switchers” — eight folks ranging from a college student to a writer to a Windows network administrator.