THE SITUATION
Canon was second in Jeddah and behaved like it.
Nikon owned the shelf. Nikon owned the sales staff too, because the staff repeated whatever line they had been trained on last. The buyer walked in already decided.
The brief said share of market. The actual problem was share of conversation.
WHAT WE DID
01
Camera B' Rial
Before a single ad ran, we trained the frontliners in every store until they could shoot with the product instead of reciting a spec sheet. Then the mechanic: one extra riyal on your bill bought a scratch card and a chance at one of six cameras. Store branding, in-mall, magazine and newspaper - all of it pointed at the showroom door. Footfall rose 318% in three weeks, and the accounts gained 5,400 followers without a riyal of paid media.
02
The Eye of Jeddah
The follow-up asked the city to photograph itself. People shot Jeddah's landmarks, uploaded them to a micro-site, and pushed their own communities to vote - 3,047 entered. Four winners took home a Canon 7D, and the audience they brought with them carried the account from 5.4K to 51K.
WHAT IT PROVES
PEOPLE DO NOT WALK INTO A SHOP FOR A DISCOUNT. THEY WALK IN FOR A REASON.
Give them one that has nothing to do with buying, and the buying takes care of itself. That is transferable. It has nothing to do with cameras.