Printers Aren’t Just for Work in Canon’s Home-Centric Ad

In the post-pandemic world, the role of the home has changed for many people as both a place to live and work with hybrid working and family life having merged. In response, multinational technology company Canon aims to build the prominence of its brand and range of printers by positioning the roles they can play in modern life.

According to the company’s second-quarter financial results, there has been dips internationally in the demand for printers and inkjet sales following a “high level of sales” in 2022, however, it expects to recover in the second half of this year.

Canon has been considering the future of the printer category since lockdowns were in place, recognizing it as a utility purchase within a commoditized market across EMEA. To promote its range of PIXMA printers, a pan-European consumer campaign has been released that aims to celebrate the chaos of living in a home environment that is both personal and professional.

For The Stuff of Life

Driving new sales is a challenge Canon currently faces, following a period where many people have bought printers in recent years and will still be content with their purchases.

“Part of the strategy for this campaign is to remind people of the things they love to print. And for us, we still believe as much as you’ve got your boarding pass on your phone, if your trip matters to you, you will still print your boarding pass,” explained Susie Donaldson, European marketing director for Canon, to Adweek.

“For The Stuff of Life” campaign has been devised to offer something different to the category and the brand’s major competitors, such as HP and Epson, by bringing a humorous tone to its marketing while also talking about what the product does.

The campaign also aims to convey quality and reliability through each spot’s fast-paced editing and rich, colorful images of printed items from family photos to paper DIY building plans. They also feature a voice-over outlining different issues that printing at home can help people to overcome.

“We wanted to connect more with how people are really using our products in their homes, some of them working, some of them not,” she continued.

Developed by EMEA agency of record VCCP, features a hero 30-second spot alongside multiple 15 and 10-second ads, to convey the versatility of the printers within the home office space.

With media planning and buying handled by Merkle and Dentsu, the campaign will run in key markets in the U.K, Germany and France across TV, digital and social until Nov. 5. 11 European markets have been supplied with localized versions of the 30-second and social campaign assets featuring adapted scripts for cultural relevance.

“What we want people to think is when they need a printer, the Canon printer is the right choice for them,” added Donaldson.

With a plan that will see the campaign platform run over the next few years, key performance indicators set for the campaign’s success will monitor awareness and consideration, with media investment set to grow over time. Plans will include more high-impact, high-value media to cut through Canon’s rivals.

Canon’s international social media strategy

Connecting with audiences across various touchpoints is vital, and Canon Europe has a localized digital and social media strategy run by both centralized and local teams with 56 country-specific brand websites, including Uzbekistan, Türkiye, Malta, Georgia and Cyprus. For each country, the use of social media platforms vary across Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram with TikTok becoming a new addition to the fold as it has proven to be an effective search channel for Canon’s print products while engaging with its channel-specific content.

“We are trying to keep up. So we’re doing a piece of work to understand how best to reach our audiences to be social with more proposition-based social channels or unlocking new channels like TikTok,” she admitted.

Canon has also been growing its engagement with the creator community having launched a YouTube content strategy in recent weeks titled “The Canon Learning Series”

The series focuses on offering tips and insights for photographers hosted by tech influencer Tomi Adebayo as he speaks to various photographers, all while experimenting using the brand’s cameras.

“Creators today are the people that are breaking down barriers, trying new formats and new channels before we even realize what they are. They are hugely influential, but also valuable audience to us,” Donaldson added.