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United Kingdom / Republic of Ireland 6 November, 2007: In the highly competitive digital still camera market, communicating with customers in a manner that speaks to both their rational and emotional connection to the product is vital to success.

In spring of 2007, Canon conducted market research in key European countries to confirm and gain insights into the consumer's relationship with digital still photography.

At the heart of digital still photography is the innate desire to hold on to special moments in our lives. Those rare but significant moments in our lives, the people and things that touch us. A photograph is not just a picture in a frame but a frozen emotion etched in light and colour. A feeling we can access whenever and wherever we like. We do not only judge our photos by the framing and the composition but the by the way they make us feel. When we look at them we say 'that's a nice one', 'what a great shot' and as we say the words we smile to ourselves.

Based on this consumer insight the 'smile' communication platform has been developed for Canon's Digital Still Camera range. According to Gregory Kukolj, CCI Marketing Communications Director "Tapping into the word 'smile', a word that we all recognize just before a photograph is taken, Canon is linking itself to the emotional core of digital still photography. At the same time, the 'smile' platform provides ample opportunity to communicate key product features and leading Canon technologies"

The 'smile' platform was recently launched at the end of October with a multimedia campaign throughout Europe.

Leading the campaign will be a television commercial. The protagonist of the commercial begins by capturing the smile of his girlfriend on the streets of Prague only to be swept around the world taking shots of hundreds of smiles on his way and finally returning back to his girlfriend to reveal that he's done this all with the Digital IXUS 860 IS.

Under the headline, 'Capture Every Smile' the lifestyle print campaign mirrors the TVC by featuring an image with smiles from New York to New Delhi and an image with smiles from Marrakech to Los Angeles. Online advertising invites consumers to the campaign site where consumers travel to various parts of the world and interact with leading Canon technologies such as Face Detection, Image Stabilization, Optical Zoom and Wide-angle lenses.

These technologies are also communicated in a targeted photo specialty press campaign featuring headlines such as 'Don't miss a single smile' and 'Stable smiles every time'.

Pricing & Availability
The IXUS 860 IS is available now and is priced at £299 / €449 inc. VAT

Resource : Canon News