Nikon Stuns Online World
What do Kate Moss, Nikon’s Coolpix S6 digital camera, and Flickr have in common? According to a recent multiplatform promotional campaign, they are all young, sleek, sexy… and above all else, stunning.
Nikon recently began running an eye-catching TV spot showcasing Moss and its latest high-end digital camera offering. The supermodel fearlessly shakes away years of bad publicity (surrounding her alleged drug use and relationship with high maintenance rock brat Pete Doherty), and struts her stuff down a metallic runway with said camera in tow. While she pouts and seduces the watchful lens of acclaimed director Mark Romanek, close-ups of the streamlined, silver apparatus in her hand vie for the sexual gaze of the viewer.
The tagline: “The New Nikon Coolpix S6. Stunning Pictures. Stunning Design. StunningNikon.com”
By this point, if you’re awestruck and drooling over yourself like I was, you’ll jump onto a PC and see what the site has to deliver. You’ll find a site as chicly designed as the commercial, where Moss’ semi-naked body acts as a navigational toolbar. Click on somewhat cryptic links spotlighted across her body (such as “stunning is provocative,” and “stunning is brilliant”), and you’ll find a wealth of content expanding on the TV spot.
There’s Mark Romanek’s 2-minute director’s cut of the commercial—somewhat redundant, but a must-see for every pimply teenage boy. There’s downloadable wallpapers that capture the more artistic moments of the spot. You can find background information, little-known secrets, and behind-the-scenes footage of the actual shoot, as well as details on Kate’s hair, makeup and fashion designers. If that wasn’t enough to quell your lust, there areinterviews with the enigmatic supermodel herself—riffing on playfully themed subjects like rock ‘n’ roll, full moons, and the color silver.
In case you forgot, the site is also a vehicle for introducing consumers to the cool look and features of Nikon’s new camera. You can play with the Coolpix S6’s “pictmotion” feature, a customizable slideshow set to music, and you can scope out its revolutionary facial recognition and wifi-enabled functions. Most importantly, there’s prominent quick links to “Learn More” and find out “Where to Buy.”
Nikon has traditionally catered to professional photographers rather than average consumers, but with the Coolpix S6 it saw a perfect opportunity to court a younger, hipper, club-going set. Sure, it’s a $449 piece of hardware, but the kids of today will shell out wads of cash if it becomes an essential fashion accessory on top of being a useful technology (ahem, iPod, ahem).
The company knew its supermodel, big-name director, and interactive online destination would sufficiently hit upon this relevancy, but it decided to take the campaign a step further.
In Flickr, the Yahoo!-owned picture-sharing/social networking site, Nikon found a pathway to a vibrant, well-informed community of photography enthusiasts. It sought to spark this community’s interest and discussion around its brand and latest offering, and it succeeded in doing so by encouraging users to do one simple thing: take stunning pictures.
NikonStunningGallery.com has handpicked and exhibited over six thousand beautiful, colorful, strange, lively, and poignant images posted by Flickr users. There you’ll find vividly patterned butterflies, smiling faces of children, close-ups of bizarre insects, and angular modern architecture. Each picture acts as a link to its photographer’s own personal corner of the Flickr site.
And there, on Flickr.com, Nikon has placed numerous gateways back to the campaign sites as well as its corporate homepage. In a prime space void of any other advertisements, Nikon has obtained an exclusive sponsorship of the front page of Flickr.com. It has also solicited amateur and professional photographers alike to include a special tag on each picture they take using a Nikon camera. These tags open up a community of Nikon users on Flickr unto itself, with aggregated discussion threads and slideshows accessed with the click of a button. Cleverly, these tags act as an entrant application for the NikonStunningGallery, a huge exposure incentive for any user.
“The Nikon-Flickr relationship celebrates the creation and sharing of great photos,” a Yahoo! spokesperson tells ADOTAS. “The Nikon Stunning Gallery showcases some of the most creative, artistic pictures on Flickr and the photographers who took them.”
Between Kate Moss and an online community of thousands of avid photographers, Nikon has strutted down a catwalk to successful online brand integration with a swagger that makes it all look easy.
Reader Comments.
That Nikon site won’t sell a camera. It’s not only gratuitous. It’s also pointless.
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