Exclusive | Commited to innovate products consistently: Canon's Andrew Koh

Click click click...that is how a lot of youngsters are going around the country today. The growing photography culture in India coupled with constantly evolving technology has made camera making companies up their game and scale up the quality of product and services they offer across countries and in India as well.

Following this statement, Canon India has launched a new campaign - Everyone Can with a Canon targeted to the first time buyers and young women of the country.

Adgully caught up with Andrew Koh, Senior Director, Image Communication Products Group, Canon India to know more about the growing culture of professional photography and more.

Serving a very niche need of consumers, speaking about how according to him has photography culture evolved in India both as a career option and as a hobby, Koh said, “Photography in India has taken a new high. People are buying fully-featured & top-of-the-line cameras and want to take-up photography as a career option. Canon has always been the pioneers in manufacturing the best Digital- SLR cameras and we hope to continue to same momentum and attract newer customers”.   

Sharing Canon’s plans to promote photography amongst the young photography enthusiasts in India and the world, Koh states that Canon, being a digital imaging leader, has always been passionate about promoting the spirit of photography amongst the Indian youth. “To further enhance photography culture in India, Canon recently launched the EOS Academy, conducting free and paid workshops; and seminars on various aspects of photography. These workshops are conducted by a panel of photography experts. To maximise its reach to younger audience, Canon India is conducting workshops in schools and tap potential photographers. They are targeting schools which have photography clubs”, he added.

Speaking further about the strategies in place for tapping newer markets / geographies in India and its global counterparts Koh mentions that the brand has developed robust plans that include aggressive marketing strategy, new product launches and retail expansion. He said, “Canon India is putting in concerted efforts to expand its retail stores presence by opening the Canon Image Square outlets in Tier II, Tier III cities. This will help Canon reach out to a wider set of audience. We are targeting schools which are running photography clubs. These are majorly for the students who want to start and explore their career in photography”.

In light of spreading the art and science of photography via Canon’s new marketing campaign – Everyone Can with a Canon, Koh said that the new campaign is targeted at making DSLRs cameras more appealing for first time buyers and women. “The idea is to reach out to new users with reduction in prices and more user friendly models. The new campaign is to promote the EOS 1200D targeting everyday users, specifically families and young mothers. The company is offering EOS 1200D as an exciting addition with powerful features and user-friendly menus, is ideal for first time buyers. To further attract potential buyers, the product will be available with an exciting double zoom lens offer, at an attractive price”.

Speaking about how digital and mobile platforms are placed for this campaign, Koh mentions that digital marketing is no longer a separate discipline, and that digital has finally found its way into organizations’ marketing, business functions have undergone a significant metamorphosis in the past few years. “With the advent of digital marketing, companies can reach their target audience and increase brand presence – and revenue – on a budget, rather than investing heavily on traditional methods of advertising / marketing. Digital and mobile platforms are important means to reach out to larger target audience. Canon has been able to optimize these platforms in the best possible manner. We have been promoting the new campaign on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites”. He said that people are now taking keen interest in sharing and uploading images on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. “We at Canon believe in Capturing and sharing pictures instantly. For the same, we constantly emphasis on creating newer platforms for consumers to give them a richer experience”, he added.

When asked about what is the differentiator for Canon than other players in the game, a confident Koh said, “Canon has always been at the cutting edge of imaging technologies. Be it our imaging products or our optical technologies, Canon has always maintained its leadership in camera market. We create products aiming to bring out excellent imaging quality regardless of the shooting conditions, and our equipment is trusted by most discerning professionals worldwide”. Mentioning about some of the strengths at Canon Koh states that, “At the top of our range of DSLR cameras, lie the EOS 1D-X and the EOS 5D Mark III aimed at professionals and serious hobbyists who demand the utmost image quality, speed and performance. The EOS 1D-X features a total of 3 processors – two DIGIC 5+ processors for image processing, and one DIGIC 4 processor for unmatched autofocus speed. Below these models is the EOS 6D – a full frame camera featuring inbuilt Wi-Fi and GPS as well as holding the crown of being the world’s lightest Full Frame DSLR”.

Besides being the leader in technology producing still images, Koh asserts that Canon is equally focused to video recording on DSLRs. With the EOS 70D, Canon has introduced Dual Pixel CMOS AF, a revolutionary technology allowing phase detection focusing to be performed by every pixel on the image sensor, leading to smooth and ultrafast focusing in Live View mode, something DSLR cameras are traditionally weaker at. With the EOS 70D, even amateurs can create videos that look like professionally captured footage.

“But Canon primary strength has to be its optical technology prowess. With over 100 Million EF Lenses produced since 1987, people the world over trust Canon optics. From speciality lenses to our unique Fisheye zoom, to the fastest prime lenses featuring apertures of up to f/1.2, to the widest range of telephoto lenses that cater to sports, action and wildlife photographers alike, the Canon family of lenses is the widest range you will see in the market today. This ultimate mix of revolutionary technology, DSL R cameras and superb lenses make Canon a unique differentiator from its competition”, he added.

The growth of mobile phone to smart-phone has brought high degree of importance to assets / features like camera in the device. Shedding light on Canon’s efforts in upgrading smart-phone camera users to easy-to-use DSLRs, Koh said, “There are people in India who have never owned a mobile phone but they buy a smart-phone. Likewise for camera technology, there are people who have never used a film camera but straightaway opt for a DSLR camera. This is because they are interested in taking better photos which cannot be captured with a smart-phone camera. Canon’s aim to promote photography culture has been taken by a wave with some interesting line ups of cameras. The brand’s commitment lies in innovating products that are coupled with easy-to-use pre-sets and simple menus. There have been active promotions around the new launches to educate customers about the simple benefits of using a DSLR camera. The aggressive marketing approach has helped Canon to reach out to amateur photographers, hobbyists, and even digital compact camera and smart-phone upgraders who enjoy taking high quality images with beautiful background blur effect”.

Concluding the conversation, Koh shared some of the keys trends that he has observed in the industry and said, “India is a very diverse market. People from different reasons have exhibit very diverse consumer behaviour as well as shopping patterns. Cameras are no exception to this, and we see different buying patterns across regions”.

Supporting his statement, Koh cited a study “India Camera Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2017” - by Research and Markets – which stated that the digital camera market will witness phenomenal rise, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27 per cent for next five years. And monitoring the trend, DSLR cameras which were earlier used largely by professionals have been witnessing an increasing demand from amateur and budding photographers. This is largely because of growing knowledge, interest and increase in spending power of India customers.

“All the more, the growing culture of photography has enthused customers to find out benefits of a DSLR camera which is another factor for increasing demand of this product category. We also see more and more people skipping the entry-level compact cameras in lieu of our SX series mainly on account of the zoom range and improved features on offer. But if we move down to Tier-III cities, still the demand of entry level point and shoot is there because of the overall household income and need for good quality images”, he said.

In the start of his career, Koh served as Marketing Manager for Imaging Systems Products that included microfilm printers and document scanners. Moving ahead, he played a significant role as the head of Computer Peripheral Division wherein he was actively involved in driving Canon’s leadership in the Single Function Printer and AIO (all-in-one machines) space. He also steered the entire gamut of Consumer Imaging & Information Group in Singapore as Senior Director and General Manager and was effective in formulating future marketing strategies in line with the company’s vision. Koh holds a Masters degree in Strategic Marketing from the University of Hull and a Diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK). 

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