Expanding The Nikon Brand- What Would You Suggest?

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Expanding The Nikon Brand- What Would You Suggest?

(22 posts) (8 voices)

Started 2 years ago by NikoDoby
Latest reply from studio460
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2. The wife needs a "Point and Shoot" camera. Any suggestions on Brand/Model ?

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NikoDoby

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Recently Nikon has said it wants to expand the Nikon brand with a,""Spirit of Innovation" added with "Fun"".

I hope "Spirit of Innovation" doesn't mean "we put the S1000PJ projector in the D90 replacment" and added fun doesn't mean "we extended Ashton Kutcher's contract for 10 more years"! But let's not make this thread into a technological and spokesmodel wish list. Instead what do you think Nikon should do to "spice up" the brand strength?

I'd hate to see the "I am Nikon" campaign expand. The whole "I am..." thing has been done to death already with other brands. I'd like to see Nikon go back to those amazing 1960's Yusaku Kamekura ad campaigns that made people notice Nikon in the first place.

In other words I'd like to see Nikon play up it's heritage more. To make the brand stand for all the amazing products they've built and not necessarily on the "consumers" that use their products now such as with the "I am Nikon" campaign. Although they have also done the whole "heritage/history" ad lots of times already too.

How about expanding some of the snazzy apparel I see in Japan to other markets around the world? I hate how the only Nikon apparel I can buy around here is just boring solid color shirts, key chains or drink Koozies with small Nikon logos on them.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Samples of Yusaku Kamekura's work

Posted 2 years ago #
a-dobbins91

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i have a "I am Nikon" Keyring and a "I am Nikon" mug.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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LOL! Nooooo! But hey at least you didn't say you're wearing an "I am Nikon" T-shirt with Ashton Kutcher's face on it!

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Does anyone else besides me remember this Nikon ad?

Posted 2 years ago #
studio460

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Yes, I believe more than ever, Nikon needs to reinvent, redefine, and reinforce their brand image. One idea could be to profile exceptional contemporary photographers in fashion, advertising, portraiture, journalism, fine art. Elevate the brand to an artists' tool. Make it the brand for the refined, experienced photographer. Forget the sports photographers with their big white lenses. Make Nikon the "elite" brand, chosen by expert craftspeople and artisans.

Ideally, Nikon should create two campaigns: The "profile" campaign above, targeted toward professionals and advanced amateurs, promoting their D-SLR products, and a "fun" campaign, tailored for consumers, supporting their Coolpix line. The Coolpix promotional theme could be anything to make the brand seem "cool" (e.g., they could hire the ad agency that has the Target account, for example). Anything that would distract buyers from talking about megapixels would be a good thing, I think.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Yes I agree with you studio, but Olympus is already using that "angle" in their ad campaign. They resurrected the PEN name and are highlighting all of the art filters and all the creative things you can do with their cameras.

I think unofficially Nikon has already been profiling their products through photographers like McNally, Krist, Kelby, Rockwell, and me :^P

But supposedly this whole new Brand expansion is going to be very interesting to watch. Ever since the D3/D300 Nikon has really stepped up their advertising. Canon is "notorious" for placing their logo every where and I think Nikon might want to do the same. Or at least try to anyway

Posted 2 years ago #
jonnyapple

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Niko, what about bringing together two of your favorite things: beer and photography? I'm not sure how to do it, but it seems like the beer commercials are usually really well-written, so maybe Nikon could splurge and get some advertisers from the beer industry to come and write their adverts. I don't think anyone has tried the beer angle.

Posted 2 years ago #
kyoshinikon

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Make cameras cool with a tag line like the camera just works. Camera ads seldom show the camera. They mostly show pictures taken by the camera...

Take a jab at canons slogan "imageANYWARE" or "Delighting you always" http://carsprobono.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bmw-checkmate1.bmp...

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Jonnyapple, Nikon already has prototype COOLPIX cameras disguised as beer cans.

Kyoshi, I'm not sure that the tagline, "It just works" makes the camera very appealing. I'd expect that tagline on a Holga but not on a Nikon!

Posted 2 years ago #
PB PM

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Thankfully I don't live in the US, so I've never seen one of the ads with Kutcher in them. Best thing Nikon can do to sell cameras is to, well show what they can do. Like the D5000 and D90 ads that I've seen here in Canada, which are part of the "Advance your photography with..." ads. (Thank You Nikon Canada!)

Posted 2 years ago #
Anonymous

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To expand the Nikon brand, I believe the first step is to expand brand awareness. I am sure that the Aston Kutcher ads have helped in the teen to young adult female market. If I am not wrong, the majority of point-and-shoot and entry level DSLR buyers today are in this demographic. And certainly, this category of product far outsells the high-end gear, both in quantity and total dollars spent.

When I started in photography in the '70's, EVERY pro I knew shot Nikon. If you were an aspiring pro, Nikon was the ONLY brand to shoot, anything else would get you laughed out of the newsroom. Nikon even use to proclaim in their ads of the day that 95% of all professionals shot Nikon. With the introduction of the Canon EOS line in the late '80's, Nikon began losing significant market share amongst pros to the EOS-1. That trend only grew larger with the coming of the digital age. Let's face it, until the introduction of the D3 & D700, Nikon lagged behind Canon in terms of DSLR performance at the pro level. I would estimate that Canon's share of pro users had grown to approximately 80% in 2007. For pros, it is all about performance (excepting those elite few sponsored pros that will shoot whatever brand gives them gear & money to do so).

I do not agree with the poster that said "forget the sports photographers with their big white lenses". Canon has run many an ad showing all those big white lenses on the sideline of a major sporting event. Do you think those ads were aimed at professionals? I think not. Consumers envision themselves using the same products as those that they idolize do. If not the same model, the same brand. How many Chevy's were sold because Dale Earnhardt drove a Chevy? Far more people watch a sporting event on TV, or the nightly news than go to a fine art exhibit. Seeing more Nikon's in the hands of those covering the White House or the Super Bowl will boost sales in all market segments. This brings me full-circle to my point that for pros, it's all about performance. Keep improving the product; be an innovator in technology, not a follower.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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When people see a bunch of cameras on tv at a sporting event they just see a bunch of cameras and they could careless about the different brands. Nobody buys a car because they saw a Peugeot beat an Audi. They buy the car that has the features they want at the price their credit is good for. However if your car is a Fiat built along side a Ferrari in the same factory then that gets people's attention. So when Nikon makes the connection that their cameras are used by NASA and go on space missions that means more to me than telling customers canon is an official sponsor of badmington tournament.

Posted 2 years ago #
Anonymous

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I guess someone needs to let Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge & Toyota know that they are wasting their money in NASCAR because nobody buys a car because their favorite driver drives one. There is a reason that the old saying "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" came to be. While you may not purchase a certain brand of motor vehicle because it wins in professional racing, there those that do. Why else would vehicle manufacturers spend millions upon millions of dollars in motorsports?

Certainly, there are those who would not have their buying decision influenced by what brand of camera they see on the sidelines, but there certainly those that would. I am not a 14-year old female, so the Aston Kutcher ads do not influence me in the slightest, but obviously there is a segment of the population that these ads appeal to.

Have you ever noticed what brand of cameras are used on all of the CSI TV shows? Nikon. Most probably Nikon provided the production company with the gear for little or no cost. Why? Free (virtually) advertising. Nikon may have even paid the shows producers to use the brand. While not as blatant as a 30 second spot on national TV, or a full-page ad in a magazine, it is still advertising. The more your brand is seen, the more likely it is to be considered by consumers when they go to purchase.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Yes believe me i am well aware of advertising tactics. the "win on sunday, sell on Monday" is from a long ago era and since then people want products they think are cool or technologically advanced. When was the last time you saw Apple sponsor a sporting event? Yet people camp out in long lines to get Apple products just based on the product and not because they saw an actor use an ipad on the CSI tv show

Posted 2 years ago #
NSXType-R

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I wish they took advantage of NASA using Nikon products. They've been using them for forever almost.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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They have advertised it. They just can't put it in every single ad every year single year though.

Posted 2 years ago #
studio460

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LensWork said:
I do not agree with the poster that said "forget the sports photographers with their big white lenses". Canon has run many an ad showing all those big white lenses on the sideline of a major sporting event. Do you think those ads were aimed at professionals? I think not. Consumers envision themselves using the same products as those that they idolize do. If not the same model, the same brand.

Well, it is hard to forget the sea of white lenses at major sporting events. And, I do believe, that at least for advanced amateurs, that that persistent visual, the "sea of white lenses," does help associate Canon as the brand of "professionals."

However, the spirit of my argument was more to address the point, "if you can't win at 'their' game, change the rules, and play 'your' game." In other words, if you can't lead in one area (pixel-count, sports photographers, etc.), shift the focus to another area where you can make a claim of leadership, innovation, or whatever branding statement you can come up with that differentiates the brand in another area.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Nikon has always played their own game and they've always been at the top because of how they play it!

Posted 2 years ago #
studio460

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Actually, I was just looking at a "behind-the-scenes" photo that I took a couple of weeks ago, and I happened to notice, "a sea of black lenses, with a few white lenses sprinkled around . . . "

Posted 2 years ago #
Anonymous

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studio460 said:
Actually, I was just looking at a "behind-the-scenes" photo that I took a couple of weeks ago, and I happened to notice, "a sea of black lenses, with a few white lenses sprinkled around . . . "

I have been seeing more and more Nikon's at the events I shoot since the D3 came out. Nikon has definitely started to regain some of the pro market they lost. I know that just before the introduction of the D3, Canon tried to get the last of the Nikon holdouts at a major south Florida newspaper to switch to Canon. They offered the Nikon shooters to trade out their D2's, lenses & flashes for new Canon gear. One of the shooters there that I know took the trade, but after the D3 came out, she told me she wished she had waited for the D3.

Posted 2 years ago #
studio460

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Yes, also at the NBA Finals two weeks ago, there seemed to be a lot of Nikon bodies. Seemed to be nearly 50/50, Canon/Nikon, instead of the usual 85/15, Canon/Nikon ratio often seen at pro sports events.

Posted 2 years ago #