Picture your back yard butting up to a busy freeway. You become used to the drone of traffic. It just beats on...and on...and on. You live with it, and to you, it's not even there. Until it isn't. Now that freeway has your attention.
And so it is with advertisers. We live with them, and to us, they're not even there. Until they are. Like Nikon. Nikon captured my attention.
This is old news. Nikon actually ran this initiative back in the latter part of spring. But I was reading Rolling Stone yesterday and came upon a Nikon ad. In it, a woman in a yellow dress and a Nikon camera around her neck, is holding a large picture of a little boy holding a puppy. Here is how this ad registers on dave's notice-an-ad-meter.
Nikon D40. Camera give-away. Blue collar, American woman. Real. Spectacular smile. Community. Man Nikon!
Nikon gave two-hundred D40 camera's to folks from Georgetown, South Carolina. Here is their story. Matter of fact, you'll see the girl in the yellow dress when you follow this link.
Giving stuff away for promotional benefit is not a new thing. Oprah gave away a bunch of cars. But cars don't foster community. Cars don't cause people to interact. Those folks drove their cars away, in different directions. The citizens of Georgetown however, are a community. A community running around taking pictures of everything and everybody. How can that not be good?
Note to dave in the future: Nikon connected with my human side. (dave, is there any other?) They made something real to me. Maybe because, for a moment, I didn't perceive them as a company. I perceived humans trying to connect with other humans, while promoting their product. This is a good thing dave. Hope companies are still doing this in 2027!

Great site.
Posted by: Sesso | January 22, 2009 at 12:53 AM
What is the website for the Nikon picture town project?
There was a nikon commercial I saw the other day and they were advertising the D40X. They gave a bunch of the cameras to people in a small town and there was a website with all of the peoples photos but I can't find it anywhere.
Posted by: viagra online | February 16, 2010 at 09:21 AM
For some reason, Nikon took their picture town site down. That commercial is on You Tube and if you Google Nikon Picture Town Georgetown S. Carolina you can find what others have written about it.
It's a real shame that Nikon took this site down.
Posted by: dave | February 16, 2010 at 09:27 AM