2009 Silver Effie Winner Strategic Challenge Get On Ashton s COOLPIX Category: Consumer Electronics Brand/Client: Nikon Primary Agency: McCann Erickson New York Media Agency: Initiative Contributing Agency: MRM By November of 2007, the market share of Nikon s COOLPIX brand eroded to hit an all time low at 5.5% 1. With share in the single digits, Nikon had to step up its game. The cause of Nikon s low market share was two-fold: 1) Nikon COOLPIX wasn t even in the consideration set for younger consumers. Nikon is known for introducing some of the most advanced professional cameras of our time - from yesterday s 35mm cameras to today s D-SLR s. Although a positive among older consumers, this heritage carried negative connotations among 18-34 year olds, our core target. They associated the brand with attributes such as older, expert and technical. It was a brand their parents or even grandparents would own. Because of this, it was not a brand that they wanted to own. Nikon needed to re-cast itself in a new way to get young people to take notice, engage with and strongly consider the brand. 2) Nikon COOLPIX was competing against consumer electronic giants. The point and shoot category was cluttered with brands vying for consumers attention. Consumer electronics giants such as Sony, Panasonic, Canon and Samsung had vastly more money to invest in marketing and their retail clout gave them an advantage in-store. Critically, these brands were able to secure multiple facings at display by selling their cameras in as part of larger portfolios including flat screen TV s, camcorders, DVD players, etc. Nikon, as a camera manufacturer only, did not have this advantage and struggled to get the facings they needed. In order to compete, Nikon needed a campaign that would break through the category clutter and motivate young prospects to go into the big box retailers seeking Nikon 1 NPD Group s Retail Marketing Group
COOLPIX cameras. Objectives Nikon set two very aggressive objectives for its COOLPIX line in 2008: 1) Reverse share erosion to position itself as a strong competitor in the market. Specifically, Nikon needed to double its share (10%) in the point & shoot segment. 2) Improve brand perceptions among younger prospects by increasing Nikon s scores on the critical attributes of Stylish, Cool, Youthful and Spontaneous, while maintaining the brand s high quality credentials. The Big Idea Stun Someone To simply stun everyone with Nikon s irresistibly cool and stylish COOLPIX cameras, and invite them to stun their friends with their spontaneous and incredible pictures. This idea resulted from two critical insights we leveraged: 1) Nikon was introducing a line of COOLPIX cameras with the style, design and functionality that was every bit as impressive as those of our competitors. Seeing them and using them generated a real wow factor they were stunning cameras! 2) In relation, we recognized that COOLPIX communication had to have the power to stop disinterested youthful prospects in their tracks and make them want to pay attention to our story. We had to stun them with Nikon s audacious, interesting messaging they would want to consume. Bringing the Idea to Life When it came to stunning people, we chose to put Nikon s cameras in the hands of a celebrity who made a career out of stunning people Ashton Kutcher. We knew Ashton Kutcher was the perfect fit because he embodied the traits we wanted consumers to associate with the brand he was stylish, cool, beautiful, fun and approachable. Also, research showed that Ashton was extremely relatable to our core target of 18-34 year olds. 23 Bringing the idea to life began by seeking a way for our prospects to interact with Ashton and the cameras. The web was the ideal place to begin. We created a viral application on Ashtonscoolpix.com that would allow consumers to upload their photos onto Ashton s COOLPIX. What they would see in return was Ashton doing what Ashton does best - commenting on the photos in shocking and hysterical ways. Users could then send the photos along to friends, beginning a viral chain of stunning COOLPIX pictography. Ultimately, the application would drive recipients back to the site so they too could stun their friends with their incredible photos on 2 Davie Brown Index, 2008 3 Nielsen, 2008
Ashton s COOLPIX. There were also applications on the site where prospects could interact with the cameras, learn about their features, colors, styles, etc. and find out where they could buy one close to home. In order to drive consumers to ashtonscoolpix.com we utilized TV and print. Research showed that our target spent more time watching TV than with any other form of media 3 so we spent the majority of our media budget on TV, focusing exclusively on programs loved by 18-34 year olds. TV was also a good fit because Ashton was becoming an even bigger Hollywood personality. It just so happened that Ashton was promoting a new movie around the time of our launch so we could enhance our association with him by purchasing media around appearances he made on shows like Saturday Night Live, Ellen and Jimmy Kimmel. On Jimmy Kimmel specifically, we were one of the first brands to partner with the show to create live commercials in which Jimmy Kimmel stunned his audience with the COOLPIX cameras. Within the actual TV executions, we had to use Ashton in a unique way. Rather than having all eyes on Ashton and potentially overwhelm the product story, the COOLPIX cameras stole the scenes as everyone, everywhere tried to get their hands on Ashton s COOLPIX to snap photos of themselves. In print, we maximized the style and design relationship between our cameras and Ashton in a straightforward manner to maximize stopping power. The executions invited consumers to go to ashtonscoolpix.com to upload their photos and find out more. Consistent with the TV plan, the print plan tapped fashion, beauty and entertainment publications in order to surround the message in the most celebrity-driven/style-based content. Communications Touch Points TV Spots Branded Content Sponsorship Product placement Radio Spots Merchandising Program/content Print Trade/Professional Newspaper Consumer Magazine Print partnership Direct Mail Email PR Events Packaging Product Design Cinema Interactive Online Ads Web site Viral video Video skins/bugs Social Networking sites Podcasts Gaming Mobile Phone Other OOH Airport Transit Billboard Place Based Other Trade Shows Sponsorship Retail Experience POP Video In-Store Merchandizing Sales Promotion Retailtainment Guerrilla Street Teams Tagging Wraps Buzz Marketing Ambient Media Sampling/Trial Consumer Involvement WOM Consumer Generated Viral Other Additional Marketing Components: None Reach:
National Total Media Expenditure: $20-40 million Results The results of the campaign were simply stunning! The Nikon COOLPIX campaign over delivered on all said objectives: 1) Reverse share erosion and achieve a 10% share in the Point & Shoot segment. Nikon not only met its share goal, it obliterated it. The brand actually nearly tripled its share to 14.6% 1 by August 2008, six months after the launch of the campaign. In doing so, Nikon defied marketplace projections as it was the only brand to increase share in the category, taking volume directly from competitors. 2) Improve brand perceptions among younger prospects by increasing Nikon s scores on the critical attributes of Stylish, Cool, Youthful and Spontaneous, while maintaining the brand s high quality credentials. In the ad test conducted before launch we saw a sizeable increase in the attributes we set out to move Stylish, Cool, Youthful and Spontaneous. In addition, we maintained the brand s perception of high quality.
We even saw a considerable shift in perceptions of Nikon in market as evidenced by our brand tracker. This shift was significant since the campaign had only been in market for three months as Wave 2 was being fielded. And beyond our objectives, we were able to unexpectedly capture the attention of retailers. Due to the campaign, Nikon was having phenomenal success with the big boxes. Retailers were impressed by the campaign and by Nikon s increasing support of the COOLPIX brand. This resulted in Nikon receiving two additional posts in Best Buy, allowing them to increase the number of cameras on display and ultimately sell more cameras. Anything else going on that might have helped drive results? Nothing directly affected the success of this campaign.