Nikon launched an entertaining integrated campaign recently that several people called to my attention. Conveniently enough, MediaPost covered it today:
This is quite the feel-good campaign. Nikon gave 200 of its D40 cameras to residents of Georgetown, S. C. in an effort to show that anyone can take high-quality digital pictures. For eight days Georgetown became Picturetown, and the residents, along with their pictures, became part of a TV, print and online campaign. The TV spot begins with residents collecting their cameras. From a child’s first haircut to a cheerleader mid-move, activities are captured digitally. Click here to watch the ad. Print ads show residents holding blown-up pictures they’ve taken. The Web site is well worth a visit. Written profiles of Georgetown residents are featured, along with the best part: a wall of pictures captured by the residents.
I’m stretching a bit to call this campaign Marketing for Good. It is not uproariously funny but it is entertaining. It was certainly engaging for the 200 or so residents of Georgetown who got to play with the Nikon D-40 and visitors to the website are certainly engaged by the pictures and the video stories. Some people may even be inspired to take up photography as an art form given how easy the folks in Georgetown made it look to take beautiful shots. Celebrating the potential artist in everyone is certainly not a bad thing. If this campaign inspires more people to express themselves via photography then indeed some good will come from it. Perhaps it is simply a lower case good campaign–which is more than I can say for most.