To launch the Nikon D40, Nikon gave out 200 of the new cameras to the residents of Georgetown, South Carolina, which they've since dubbed "Picturetown."
An elegant campaign site pays homage to the results -- compelling amateur photography with plenty of story and humanity -- with a proper balance of editorial and consumer-generated sensibility. What's even more impressive is that I didn't learn about it while reading the blogs or through a banner ad (the usual means).
I was thumbing through ESPN The Magazine and came across a full-page ad with a young woman in a bright yellow dress holding a large photo print of younger boy in a baseball uniform with the caption, "I used to delete 89.7% of my photos." The magazine fell open to this page thanks to an inserted life-size die-cut card of the camera itself ,which is remarkably compact.
Without realizing it, I'd learned the two key "why buys" of the D40: size and shutter speed. I took out the camera insert to show my wife -- who has been asking for something smaller than our Canon Rebel DSLR. She opened the card and read me the simple premise of the Picturetown project, where we've both spent significant time relating to ordinary people taking above extraordinary pictures. Every piece of media worked to engage us while building a case for the Nikon D40. And now it's on our short list, where it wasn't before. (We're also considering a vacation to South Carolina.)
Sam Cannon
Strategists & Planners
Comments (5)
Interesting to see an old idea of giving away product for free, with a new Interactive (and Social) component. Their marriage of traditional & digital is sure to increase the impact of Brand Awareness and Brand Engagement.
And, ya know what? It kinda makes me consider taking a little vacation to South Carolina too;-)
Posted on May 14, 2007 12:44
Hi Sam,
I covered this story yesterday as well on my blog. I was first hit last Thurs. evening by a TV ad which drew me in, but for the life of me couldn't remember the web address..so I called the agency.
A very good microsite indeed
Posted on May 15, 2007 11:33
I've spent about 15 minutes going through the site. It does a great job of selling the features without hitting you over the head with cheesy marketing.
One miss for me is in the Meet the D40 section. The image of the camera is just a bit soft, and as it animates you can she it get sharper and then soft again. That little detail maybe me think, jeez, shouldn't their product shots be just as nice as the shots the camera takes? Maybe they shoulda used a D40 to shoot it.
Posted on May 16, 2007 10:58
it is definatly a brilliant marketing campaign by Nikon. Though the shots range from average to fairly good, they still get the point across that even the average person can benifit from a DSLR. However if it is the kit lens they were using it appears quite soft, for the average person it wouldn't matter, but I know that I would want something much sharper.
Posted on May 21, 2007 17:15
I came across it through viral marketing: someone liked it and posted it on a Nikon Talk discussion group on dpreview.com. I was impressed by the way the message fleshed out the D40's value proposition of DSLR quality and speed with P&S ease. Plus they delivered full-screen full-resolution pictures that did some justice to the original clean 6-megapixel images.
However it was still marketing weasel-speak. There were good and bad images. Many of the bad images looked like they were shot in full auto, which is the only way you have a P&S level of ease of use. Many of the good images had at least some manual control, such as shutting off the flash or focusing then recomposing. Many of the images could have easily been improved with a little more equipment, like a bounce-capable hotshoe flash.
In a kid-photo video, there was inept use of the D40, such as going through the focus-light, prefocus, onboard flash redeye reduction sequence for candids of a kid playing. Speed and light quality are not much better than a P&S. Better to manually prefocus with a narrow aperture, set manual shutter speed to balance flash and ambient, find the correct manual power on a bounced flash for better light quality, then bang away with zero lag. It's not as quick and easy but the pictures look good and you can shoot in motor drive.
There were indoor concert shots, where the main light source was the on camera flash. Ugly and not different than a decent P&S. Low light photography works well with flash but the flash must be under manual control to coordinate with the ambient light, and off-camera.
None of these facts were conveyed in the marketing text and video. The complexity of manual controls is what it is, and you can't get a high level of control without learning the basic relationships. Someone who buys a D40 because the tagline says "Anyone can take a great picture with a D40" is in for a rude awakening when they throw it into auto mode and find that they have no LCD viewfinder, the fill flash is not flattering or smart, the optical zoom is very limiting (amazingly the marketing text touted the ability to go very telephoto on the kit 18-55mm lens), there's no image stabilization, and the sheer number of options is overwhelming. It's great that autofocus and continuous shooting is fast, but without the knowledge to manually control camera settings, they will have a hard time breaking through to DSLR quality images.
I remember my first time trying to learn a Nikon Coolpix 5700 without the manual or any Nikon experience. It was murder. After years of digital photography I was comfortable with the D40 right away but I would guess the utter novice will have some difficulties learning the D40, belying the marketing message of utter ease.
Posted on May 28, 2007 07:45