Even pictures taken by regular people can be worth a thousand words. That’s what the residents of Georgetown, South Carolina, learned recently. As part of a new campaign for the Nikon D40 from McCann Worldgroup, NY, 200 residents were given the digital camera to discover how ordinary people like themselves could take extraordinary pictures. Overnight they were taking the best pictures of their lives, and their town was dubbed Picturetown.
McCann and MRM Worldwide, (an interactive agency within McCann Worldgroup) captured some of the residents’ experiences with the cameras in the form of documentary-like films to post on a new interactive website, www.stunningnikon.com/picturetown. In addition to the profiles, the site provides a gallery featuring photographs taken by all 200 participants, a commentary section and a chance to win a Nikon D40.
The campaign takes into consideration that it can be daunting for people who take pictures with a point and shoot digital camera to switch to a digital single-lens reflex camera. But because there are so many benefits–interchangeable lenses, faster speeds, more professional control over light, etc.–Nikon wanted to take the intimidation factor out of the equation. The client also wanted to help people get over the intimidation that simply comes from the Nikon name.
“It has always stood for superior imagery and photography and that’s a great thing, but sometimes people make the assumption that a Nikon might be a little too much camera for them because they don’t have professional or even pseudo professional aspirations,” explained Larry Platt, senior creative director, McCann. “This is really about helping people get over that intimidation–the line that we use all the time is the democratization of great picture taking. That’s really what we want the brand to stand for.”
Georgetown provided a diverse cross section of people for the creative team to show that anyone could pick up the camera and be able to shoot, One of the challenges was also making sure there was enough of a diverse mix of people profiled on the site. In addition, all 200 participants’ photos had to be looked at in preparation for the gallery section of the site. Decisions had to be made fast to meet production deadlines. Ingrid Ducmanis, associate creative director, copywriter, MRM, described the production as an “amazingly orchestrated process.”
The creatives set up a “picture center” in the hotel they were staying at where people would bring in their pictures. Tom Newsom, associate creative director, art director, MRM, was in charge of going through all the photos–there were some 40,000 of them.
They also created a gallery in a storefront in town featuring some of the photos Newsom had chosen to surprise the participants at the suggestion of director Sam Bayer of H.S.I. Productions, Culver City, Calif., who shot the TV spot (that drives visitors to the site) as well as the web films. The participants were told they were attending a “party.”
In the :60 spot, viewers see the people walk through the door shocked to see their work on display. Bayer had three cameras rolling to capture the moment. He brought a similar level of spontaneity to the table throughout the six-day shoot, which strengthened the web films and the entire campaign.
“He was amazingly committed and passionate about the whole idea of helping people express themselves through better pictures,” said Platt, adding that he had worked with Bayer previously on some MasterCard spots. “That idea meant a lot to him as an image maker.”
In the web films, the people profiled describe the features of the Nikon that helped them take better pictures. Take Captain Mark Collins for example. He makes his living giving people an up close and personal look of the ocean they might otherwise never get through eco tours. Using the continuous shot mode, he’s now able to capture stunning wildlife moments that he used to miss with a point and shoot digital camera. After each profile, visitors have an option to click on a link to find out more about the features mentioned as well as others. In Collins’ case, we learn he was able to catch the action because of lightning fast autofocus and virtually no shutter delay.
Teamwork Because of the multiple elements involved the project, it would not have gotten done without a true team effort early on as well as the efforts of McCann executive producer Cathy Love, according to Platt. “It was a logistically challenging job,” he said. “She did an amazing job from the start.”
The creatives from MRM set up a working prototype of the site prior to beginning the shoot. “We all had to be on the same page from day one during all the initial production meetings, scheduling, etc.,” said Newsom. “None of the website would have worked had the shoot actually happened before any of the web had been planned.”
They praised MRM’s senior web editor Chris Edwards for his work on the site. Newsom explained that the site runs on Flash 9 but the contents are all on a backend that runs off XML. “So essentially every bit of text, every photo, every video is all stored elsewhere and the XML pulls all of that in. He literally built all of this in two-and-a-half to three weeks,” Newsom said. “He did a fantastic job.
Ducmanis said the sleeper hit of the site was the commentary section. “We weren’t expecting the success of it,” she said. “It adds another layer. It’s real people responding to the photos of real people. I think it’s cool to have people communicating about the product organically.”
She also finds it satisfying that the project gave people a way to express themselves artistically. “People were genuinely surprised and moved as they came in and saw what their town had done in six days,” Ducmanis said, referring to the impromptu gallery they created in town. “We did something real and true. There were some people who we changed. They are interested in this way of making art that I don’t think they would have been had this not happened.”
CREDITS:
Client Nikon
Agency McCann Worldgroup, New York
Joyce King Thomas, chief creative officer; Bill Oberlander, executive creative director; Larry Platt; senior creative director; Tom Sullivan, senior creative director; Kathy Love, executive producer; Mike Boris, music producer MRM, NY Michael Jacobs, executive creative director; Ingrid Ducmanis, associate creative director, copywriter; Tom Newsom, associate creative director, art director; Chris Edwards, senior web developer;Craig Richards, director of technology
Production H.S.I Productions, Culver City, Calif.
Samuel Bayer, director/cinematographer; Annique DeCaestecker, executive producer; Suzanne Hargrove, producer
Editorial The Whitehouse , New York
Marc Langley, editor; Sam Puglise-Kipley, assistant editor; Lauren Hertzberg, producer
Post Production Company 3, NY, Tim Masick, colorist
Riot, NY Tom McCullough, On line editor
Audio Engine, NY Tom Goldblatt, Audio Engineer/Mixer
Music Sibling, NY
