This summarizes a Nikon advertising campaign that gave away 200 cameras to residents of Georgetown, South Carolina and documented the results. The campaign authentically captures the lives of the residents and how receiving a camera transformed some of them, with one girl saying it may lead to a career in photography. The accompanying website allows users to view the photos and stories of the residents, and the campaign moves Nikon to focus on digital cameras and amateur photographers by showing the cameras are easy to use.

1. documents this moment in time, in this town,
as clearly as Walker Evans did in his photog-
raphy collection, Let Us Now Praise Famous
Men. But in sharp contrast to those historic
photos of sharecroppers barely getting by, life
is good in this town, where people fish, work
and get a kick out of their kids.
t first, I thought there might changeable lenses, laid out The site offers gallery after gallery of the
be an Oprah-ish vibe to the on bare wood tables. The actual photos taken, and one of the cool de-
idea of Nikon giving away locals file into the hall and, vices is, after pressing on any particular shot,
200 cameras to residents of laughing and smiling, pick we also get a thumbnail sketch of the shooter.
Georgetown, S.C. (a.k.a. “Pic- them up. They seem genu- Also, every photo can be downloaded or for-
turetown”) and documenting the inely thrilled. Then they start warded to a friend.
results: It’s a stunt, plain and shooting—and shooting— There’s also a print component, which
simple, and the townsfolk oblige and the shooting turns into is unremarkable: Ads show people proudly
by screaming and jumping up the non-sell sell. holding their blown-up photos, which seems
and down until the professional Really, if any other brand’s like every other camera campaign. But bound
cameras recording the freebie advertising concentrated on on top of each ad is a 3-D insert, a pop-up
cameras leave. (Or, in the unfor- images of smiling firemen, cardboard camera that is the actual size of the
tunate instance of Oprah’s car white picket fences, the Amer- Nikon D40. It dimensionalizes the camera and
giveaway, the tax bills came.) ican flag, a cheerleader named literally puts it in people’s hands, so they can
But the upshot here is sur- Britney and a toddler getting see that it’s not like the heavy tank of old.
prisingly big, human and genu- his first haircut, I’d say, “How There’s something really satisfying about
inely moving. It works from 20 years ago! How many basing an ad campaign on the real stuff of
every angle. For the recipients, times can we revive ‘Morning user-generated content. It bulks up the expe-
it’s that old chestnut of the gift that keeps in America’”? But the small films (seen on rience and democratizes the process, not only
on giving; they get a serious camera, previ- TV and the Internet) resonate with emotion for picture takers, but also for the viewers. In
ously reserved for the digerati and profes- and authenticity. the end, what we have is something new and
sional photographers, and with it a lifelong With director Sam Bayer, the McCann delightful, a form of cutting-edge technologi-
gift of creative possibilities; for Nikon, Erickson team chose a beautiful, historic, cal folk art of the people, for the people and
“Picturetown’’ is a user-generated, organic, coastal community—an inherently pretty by the people.
360-degree experiential campaign that cov- place to shoot. (A “jewel of a little town’’
ers nontraditional ad bases, plus writes, pho- is how one resident puts it.) But the human-
tographs and keeps updating itself. interest part, where we get to know the di- NIKON WEB SITE
Even better, it sells cold, hard digital verse residents, is what really connects. Agency
MRM, NEW YORK
technology in a way that comes off as per- The agency and production team was McCANN ERICKSON, Executive creative director
sonal, individual and, at only there for a week, but NEW YORK MICHAEL JACOBS
times, dare I say, profound. for some of the locals, the Chief creative officer Associate creative director,
It also succeeds strategical- experience, without exag- JOYCE KING THOMAS copywriter
ly in moving Nikon almost geration, was life trans- Executive creative director INGRID DUCMANIS
exclusively to digital and forming. One girl, holding BILL OBERLANDER Associate creative director,
the consumer side (perhaps her camera, says, “I might Senior creative director,
art director
to the chagrin of the pros) even make a career out of copywriter
TOM NEWSOM
and shows amateurs that an this.’’ And last week, a man LARRY PLATT Director of technology
expensive camera like the wrote to the company to say Senior creative director,
CRAIG RICHARDS
Nikon D40 ($499), which previously would that he grew up in Georgetown, had been art director Senior vp, director of
have seemed intimidating, if even on their away for many years and after seeing the TOM SULLIVAN technology services
radar, is easy to use and worth every penny. commercials went back and reunited with Executive producer ANDY JACOBS
The tagline: “Where ordinary people take his (now no longer estranged) father. (See, KATHY LOVE Senior Web development
extraordinary pictures.” there is an Oprah angle!) Music producer
CHRIS EDWARDS
The TV executions—which drive viewers to The microsite is designed to play off the MIKE BROIS Senior Project Manager
www. stunningnikon.com/picturetown— start grassroots approach and it does, beautifully. Director, cinematographer
RANDY HERRERA
with a beautiful shot of a sea of black Nikon It allows the images to tell the story of the SAMUEL BAYER, HSI VP Account Director
D40 cameras, complete with neck strap and people and the town. Not incidentally, it also PRODUCTIONS, LOS ANGELES JENNIFER PASIAKOS