Olympus John Hancock Movie Advertisement

[puny]

I think it's a waste of money putting an ad just to show the ELP3 camera, different colours and tilting screen. Those already common to other brands.

The ad should demonstrate the capabilities of the camera by showing what it can do. Not saying what it can do. Verbal messages does not imprint people's mind clearly.

When the flying Dutchman says "worlds' fastest camera", there's no excitement at all. How fast is fast? Should show the camera taking a fast moving object to demonstrate its speed. And the touch screen definitely generate interest too. Why just EPL3? Why not advertise as the EP3 series?

They should learn from other successful companies on how to market a product successfully.

 

[cannedpineapples]

what are you referring to?

 

[vengels]

what are you referring to?

no head no tail.. :dunno:

 

[Snapperholic]

I believe he meant the free to air movie last night, Hancock.... The adverts kept showing colours and Epl3 being the fastest pen. Nothing on the features and functionality.

 

[m43er]

I think they got their target audience - people who buy cameras based more on looks than function.

 

[geikou]

Nowadays with Internet, people who are interested by the ads are expected to to look up the specs and features themselves,I suppose. World's fastest PEN is a tagline to summarise the USP in one line. Also, airtime is also a factor, if they show everything it will be more expensive, I guess. Lastly, Singapore market probably not worth it for them to go big on marketing?

 

[cannedpineapples]

A lot of these companies have their eye on the point and shoot guys. That's why they remove manual controls and the like.

Having said that, I'm not sure their marketing is relevant, because I doubt any point-and-shoot guy is worrying about AF being too slow. A DSLR user might, but then, this group is not easily tricked by marketing words like 'fastest AF'. And if you're targeting the latter group, why remove manual controls?

Sometimes you really want to slap the marketeer for not understanding what their audience wants. The PnS guy might like the iPhone-like touch-screen feature, and he certainly wants 'best quality in smallest package'. Sigh. Completely wrong marketing.

And I can assure you, none of them create commercials just for Singapore. It's likely for the whole SEA, if not for the whole asia-pac.

 

[tomcat]

I think nowadays people are just too impatient and never bother to hear or read the ads properly and jump to the wrong conclusion sometimes. IMHO, when the ad said 'the world's fastest PEN', it is not saying that the E-PL3 has the world's fastest AF. It is not even saying that the E-PL3 has the fastest AF amongst all the PEN cameras since the AF speed is the same for all the latest PENs. I believe it is most likely referring to the frames per sec of continuous shooting. The E-PL3 can shoot at 5.5 fps compared to it's higher spec sibling the EP3 which can only shoot at 3 fps. So I don't think the ad was wrong in this respect.

 

[cannedpineapples]

If what you say is really what is in the ad (I haven't seen it), then it's even worse. You're saying this is your best product, better than your own flagship (more expensive) product. So what is the result? Less EP3 sales, more EPL3 sales (for the buyer that wants to buy a PEN, and wants the fastest PEN).

You just distribute sales from EP3 to EPL3, your revenue goes down, and you don't end up stealing market share from your competitors.

Sure, the ad is not factually wrong, but it fails to meet any logical marketing objectives whatsoever.

 

[geikou]

I think their marketing must be seen as a whole and not just their sponsorship of the John Hancock movie alone. I'm sure they have a budget for EP3 and EPL3, and EPM1 (3rd Generation PEN) collectively and separately.

EP3 had a round of ads prior to this (the one with the Asian guy, world's fastest pen, RESPECT), on tv and in print. The EP3 one was like 15-30 secs ads, so likely they were very expensive. It was presented in the form of a very classy, stylish, high end, and desirable (closeup/cgi shots of the internal and exterior) product targeted at the mature photographer.

Now, they sponsor this Ch5 movie, to promote the EPL3. It gets mentioned everytime the trailer runs. The target is likely the more casual PNS consumer. So the emphasis is on the color choice and tilt screen. I'm not sure, but I think this sponsorship probably costs less that the individual ads for EP3.

We may see one more round of media purchase for EPM1. There are even more colors and perhaps the ads will be even more casual?

So in a way, the whole marketing campaign does have it's own 'logic', in terms of budgeting and media space bought for each 3rd gen PEN product. (Remember, everything costs money.)

 

[cannedpineapples]

Actually it depends on the timing of the ad no? 30 second spot is the industry norm- 30 second spot in primetime is not cheap. 2-3 30 second spots at 2am can even be given out free with each primetime purchase. So if anything, the EPL3 budget is probably higher.

Color choice and tilt screen is the right idea (better than fastest AF), but as the TS pointed out, color choice and tilt screen isn't going to make me spend more on a big Oly Pen vs a small Canon S100. They might make me buy Oly Pen instead of DSLR, but then you're going for the DSLR consumer already, not casual PNS consumer.

Anyway, I can only hope they did their research properly, because it'll be a shame if these awesome products are let down by fantastic marketing. Color choice and tilt screen work for the Nex, btw, because Sony also combines a lust-worthy aesthetic in their products ('get this beautiful Nex instead of a PnS!'). Not too sure what the positioning statement is for the Oly EPL3.