Photo Finish

With the launch of 34 new Cyber-shot camerasH,W and S series in April 2012,we are investing R50 crore in our multi-media brand campaign incredible zoom. incredible detailswith brand ambassador Deepika Padukone, said Tadato Kimura,general manager,marketing,Sony India. Sony also plans to strengthen its current channel base to 3,000 counters in 2012-13,up from 2,500 counters in 2011-12 to reach a wider customer base in India,he added. It is aiming for a 45 share of the camera market in 2012-13.

Brands in this sector have to constantly reinvent themselves to ensure top of the mind recall and protect their turf. Kimura says,Sonys association with Deepika Padukone has been very successful. Deepika has added to the style and cool quotient of the brand. The incredible zoom incredible detailscommercial oozes a carnival feel. The campaign has a Facebook tab where all the information related to Cyber-Shot models,the making of the commercial and an interview with the brand ambassador are highlighted.

It is this need to target the youth that has seen Canon rope in Bollywood actor Anuska Sharma to endorse its brand. The digital camera category is a young,evolving category and the average age of the customer is falling. Anushkas tie up helps in positioning Canon as a youth product, says Alok Bharadwaj,senior vice-president,Canon India. Canon already has cricketing maestro Sachin Tendulkar as a brand ambassador. Canons latest A-Z what makes us clickcampaign reflects the mood of the youth who believe in spontaneity and want to break the conventional norms, he adds.

Nikons ad budget for the Indian market has been increasing every year,and in 2012-13,the company has set aside R150 crore for advertisements and promotions. The new Coolpix campaign revolves around Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra using the Coolpix S6300 in a theme park,using its features. Nikon has 55 market share in the DSLR category and enjoys 25 market share in the compact camera segment. We hope to increase that to 30 in 2012-13, says Sajjan Kumar,vice-presidentimaging,Nikon India.

The camera production companies have shown a certain degree of desperation in advertising. It has created brand energy for brands such as Canon,etc.,but they are not converting into large volumes. The investments are not delivering what it desires to deliver, says Harish Bijoor,brand expert and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults. Camera is about photography and photography is about glamour. We expect photography to make us glamorous so roping in a celebrity is a perfect fit, he added.

Penetration of digital cameras is 6 in India as compared to 80-90 in developed countries. While tier 1 markets have been the primary growth drivers,in the last couple of years there has been a huge spike in demand from tier 2 and tier 3 markets for both the SLR which cater mainly to professional photographers as well as the compact category.

The compact camera range starts at R4,500 and goes up to R23,000 across brands,while digital SLRs DSLRs are priced between R30,000 and R4 lakh.

Fujifilm with a 7 market share in the digital compact camera market,sold 1.6 lakh cameras and has plans to double it to 3.2 lakh units this year. This year we have extended our line of X series cameras. With X-Pro1,we have also entered the mirror-less interchangeable lens category, says Sriwant Wariz,national marketing manager,Fujifilm India.

In a highly fragmented consumer market,it is important for marketers to go beyond traditional methods of marketing and keep experiential marketing in their arsenal. Consumers need to see,touch and feel the product to be convinced about it. People make choices only after experiencing and we have noticed that every single customer ends up buying a different model than what she came in for, says Bharadwaj.

The popular sentiment is geared towards mobile phones being everything for everybody in future. However,the top end of the market that derives pleasure from photography has high dependance on cameras. Cameras have become the highest common denominator device for photography and the mobile phone the lowest, says Bijoor.

In 2010,Canon forayed into the retail space with the launch of its exclusive brand retail store called Canon Image Square. We have 60 speciality experiential stores in 40 cities and we are planning to open 300 stores in 150 cities. Sales through these stores is about 35 higher than sales through multi-brand outlets, says Bharadwaj.

Nikon,too,has adopted the shop-in-shop retail concept with its Nikon D-SLR Zones and Coolpix Zones. There are about 93 Nikon Zones all over the country for providing product demos.