You’re plunging to certain death from a great height. Naturally, your first thought is to whip out that trusty disposable camera, and snap a few quick shots – a final record of your too-brief existence on this planet. But what if the pictures don’t turn out?
It happens all too often. Which is why Kodak Max one-time-use cameras are the perfect choice when you’re engaging in life-threatening activities. Reliable and versatile, they’ll deliver great photos even as the flesh and blood that once housed your immortal soul is being reduced to a wet smear on the pavement.
No, that’s not quite the message that Kodak Canada was attempting to communicate with its most recent radio campaign. But the Toronto-based company did employ some uncharacteristically dark humour in its efforts to promote single-use cameras to the 18-24 crowd.
The campaign, which was created by Ogilvy & Mather, ran from July through to mid-September in the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver markets. In addition to radio, it featured full-page ads in alternative weeklies.
There were three different 60-second spots, each of which depicted a young protagonist contemplating some shockingly perilous recreational activity. In one, a teen pays for a ride on ‘the world’s first roller coaster made entirely of balsa wood.’ In another, a man books a skydiving lesson from a company called ‘Jump & Thump Parachuting,’ which provides bed sheets – fitted bed sheets, to be precise – instead of actual parachutes. (‘It’s cottony soft. Feel the texture on that.’)
In each case, our hero is encouraged to take along a Kodak Max disposable camera. ‘It takes great shots under almost any conditions,’ chirps the proprietor of Jump & Thump. ‘And it’s one-time-use. So there’s no worrying if your chute doesn’t, say…open.’
The campaign tagline? ‘Goes anywhere you go. And some places you shouldn’t.’
The creative approach was ‘pretty whacked-out’ for a client as determinedly middle-of-the-road as Kodak, says Nancy Vonk, creative director with O&M in Toronto. But to reach the elusive young adult market, the company needed to be willing to walk on the…well, the semi-wild side, anyway.
‘I have to give Kodak credit for acknowledging who the target is,’ Vonk says. ‘Too many clients refuse to do that. They’re used to talking to an older market, and they refuse to change their tone of voice in any way for the youth market. So the target ends up totally ignoring their advertising, because it’s talking to their parents.’
‘The nature of the audience meant we could have a little more fun with things,’ affirms Dennis Richmond, marketing and communications manager with Kodak Canada. ‘[The agency] showed us some of the other television and radio and magazine creative that targets this audience. And I think the creative we came up with fits within that mold.’
Some of Kodak’s field salespeople balked when presented with the creative concept in its preliminary form, Richmond says. ‘Some of them said: ‘This is not us, you shouldn’t do this.’ But they weren’t identifying with who we were targeting.’
As a component of Kodak’s overall strategy to increase sales of single-use cameras, a focus on the 18-24 market makes a good deal of sense. The product is, after all, a perfect fit with the lifestyle and attitude of this particular target, Vonk says.
‘They think it looks dorky to carry around a real camera,’ she explains. ‘And they also do all kinds of activities in which a nice, expensive camera could easily get wrecked.’
At first glance, radio might seem a curious medium in which to promote what is, essentially, a visual product. But the one-time-use category is, by now, well enough established that Kodak didn’t feel an overwhelming need to show the product.
The company has used radio successfully in the past to promote other products, Richmond says, and felt the medium would prove ideal for reaching the intended audience.
Creatively speaking, the challenge was fairly simple: to come up with a campaign that would stand out amid the endless parade of woeful, cheaply produced spots that dominate the airwaves.
Too many creative departments continue to treat radio as an afterthought, Vonk says. O&M, however, is determined to be an exception to that rule. So the agency devoted an inordinate amount of time to casting, ultimately recruiting talent from Toronto, Los Angeles and Seattle. And the creative team went well over its allotted time in the studio, sweating even the smallest of details. (The copywriter on the campaign was David Ross; the art director was Kai Clemen.)
There’s no mystery about why the finished product works as well as it does, Vonk says: It’s funny, pure and simple.
It helped, she adds, to work with a client who had the right mindset. ‘Dennis used the best possible meter for judging the creative: The stuff that made him laugh the most is what he went with. He just thought it was important to do the funniest possible creative, to make sure that we would stand out and not get lost in the clutter.’
Vonk admits to having experienced a certain trepidation when the finished ads were played for other members of the Kodak team. ‘It could have been a disaster,’ she says. ‘They’re used to the company doing a certain type of advertising, and none of them is in the target audience. But it went over like a house on fire.’
It remains to be seen whether Kodak will revive the campaign. At present, Richmond says, the company is contemplating an initiative for next year that would prove even more targeted, zeroing in on girls aged 13-15.
If there’s a lesson to be drawn from this exercise, Vonk says, it’s that radio needs champions on the creative side – people who will strive to raise the standards of advertising in this neglected medium.
‘People seem more willing to accept mediocre radio than to accept mediocre television or print,’ she says. ‘It’s like the bar is set lower. And we’re all to blame for this. If we want better radio, then we have to build into the creative process the conditions that will allow for it. And that means devoting more time to creative development and production.’
Kodak Canada: ‘Goes Anywhere You Go’ radio campaign
‘Olaf’
SFX: Store door chimes
Olaf: (With heavy accent) Hello. Velcome to Boundless Adventure Vacations. Me name is Olaf.
Guy: Hi. Um, I’d like to…
Olaf: Let me guess. You’re a twentysomething, emotionally unstable, slightly effeminate male trying to regain your masculinity.
Guy: Uh, yeah…
Olaf: Tell me. Do you like the taste of dirt?
Guy: Well, to be honest, Olaf, I’ve never really…
Olaf: Very well. May I recommend ze Hot Foot special.
Guy: Hot Foot special?
Olaf: Eight days and three nights in a live active volcano where you’ll toast ze marshmallows, feast on insects and sing Koombaya.
Guy: Okay.
Olaf: Or ze Crispy Wurst special. Six glorious days in Dineksbul. You’ll hunt large-horned animals, making brownies and scratching yourself. It’s very nice.
Guy: Uh-huh.
Olaf: Or you can wrestle me.
Guy: Uh, I’ll take number one.
Olaf: Done. Take this.
SFX: Sound of Kodak Max one-time-use camera being placed on counter.
Guy: What’s that?
Olaf: A Kodak Max one-time-use camera. Ze only one loaded with Kodak Max film for maximum versatility.
Guy: Wow.
Olaf: No matter vat happens, you von’t have to vorry about your photos turning out like ze kaka.
Guy: Uh, thanks.
Olaf: Sure you no vant to wrestle?
Guy: No thanks.
Olaf: Head lock?
Guy: I’ve got a hangnail.
Olaf: Greco-Roman?
VO: Kodak Max one-time-use cameras. Go anywhere you go – and some places you shouldn’t.
‘Balsa Coaster’
SFX: Carnival and roller coaster sounds throughout
Man: (Through a megaphone) Welcome to the Balsa Coaster. Come have the ride of your life.
Teen: Excuse me?
Man: (Still through megaphone) Yes!
Teen: Can you put that thing down?
SFX: Squelching of megaphone
Man: I’m so sorry.
Teen: So what’s a Balsa Coaster anyway?
Man: Why, it’s the world’s first roller coaster made
entirely of balsa wood.
Teen: Wow! Isn’t that a bit dangerous?
Man: Nonsense. We’ve bound each post with a flexible metal alloy…See?
Teen: Uh, that’s a twist tie.
Man: Yes. Yes, it is.
Teen: OK, um…Can I bring my Kodak Max one-time-use camera?
Man: Of course. You wouldn’t want to miss all the breathtaking shots of The Spiral of Death… Just look at the fun they’re having.
SFX: Horrific screams
Guy on Coaster: (Shouting in the background) I can’t feel my legs!
Teen: Are you sure this is safe?
Man: Sure as Sunday, or my name ain’t Tom.
Teen: Your nametag says Jimbo.
Man: The ‘J’ is silent.
VO: Kodak Max one-time-use cameras. The only one-time-use camera loaded with Kodak Max film for maximum versatility. Goes anywhere you go – and some places you shouldn’t.
Man: Strap yourself in, kid.
Teen: Strap? All I see is a piece of dental floss.
Man: Yes, mint-flavoured.
‘Jump & Thump’
SFX: Small plane flying overhead and farm noises
Guy #1: Hi. Welcome to Jump & Thump Parachuting. Can I help you?
Guy #2: Yeah, I’d like to go parachuting.
Guy #1: Okey-dokey. There’s just a couple of questions to make sure you’re qualified. So this is your first jump?
Guy #2: Yup.
Guy #1: Any heart conditions we should know about?
Guy #2: Uhh, no.
Guy #1: You’re insured, right?
Guy #2: Yeah…
Guy #1: OK, that’s perfect… just let me jot that down. Are you a lawyer?
Guy #2: No.
Guy #1: Goood…Any overdue library books?
Guy #2: What?
Guy #1: Just curious. Well, it looks like you’re qualified. Here’s your parachute.
SFX: Thudd
Guy #2: That looks like a bed sheet.
Guy #1: Fitted bed sheet, actually. We ran out of regular chutes. But look, it’s cottony soft. Feel the texture on that.
Guy #2: Now, wait a minute…
Guy #1: And here’s your Kodak Max one-time-use camera.
Guy #2: You want me to take pictures?
Guy #1: Sure, so we can have something to remember you by, you know.
Guy #2: But I’m going to be 20,000 feet in the air…
Guy #1: Don’t worry, it’s loaded with Kodak Max film for maximum versatility. It takes great shots under almost any conditions.
Guy #2: Oh.
Guy #1: And it’s one-time-use. So there’s no worrying if your chute doesn’t, say…open.
Guy #2: What?!
Guy #1: I said, it…it’ll take great shots of everything you’re hopin’…to get. (Trailing off) Like clouds, birds…
VO: Kodak Max one-time-use cameras. Go anywhere you go – and some places you shouldn’t.
Also in this report:
– Consolidation to put big boys in control: Short-term result likely to be reduced flexibility and increased prices p.B16
– Corus mines for radio gold p.B16
