New Olympus PEN Camera Proves as Consumer-Friendly Multimedia Package

Demonstrating that seeing is believing, the new Olympus PEN® E-PL1 both shoots and stars in a new, integrated multimedia strategy featuring television, print and online advertising.

Many of today’s consumers want a camera with the professional still image quality of a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) and high-definition (HD) video in a compact body that’s as easy to use as a point-and-shoot. Thanks in part to an image sensor found in Olympus DSLRs that is approximately eight times larger than those in standard point-and-shoot cameras, the PEN delivers all this and more. Add the flexibility of high-quality interchangeable lenses, the convenience of a built-in pop-up flash, in-camera creative features and technology designed to produce outstanding images effortlessly, and the PEN is the total consumer-friendly, multimedia package.

The PEN is a camera designed for those who want to step up to better images, and Olympus is committed to giving consumers the amazing technology to capture things they never thought possible. During testing with consumers around the country, it was clear that they wanted proof that the PEN is capable of the incredible output and ease of use that Olympus promises. The message "Look What You Can Do" resonated most with them and is now the campaign’s theme. This message is woven throughout Olympus’ advertising to capture how the consumer feels when they have been provided the tool (PEN) to easily create incredible images and HD video.

Appropriately, the "You" in "Look What You Can Do" is bolded throughout the campaign to put consumers at the forefront. The visual element of hands holding images furthers the embodiment of consumer enablement. "Look what "you" created" brings an emotional connection and empowerment to the memories the consumer has captured with the PEN.

"More than just a message, 'Look What You Can Do' is a call to action for consumers to try the PEN to create amazing still images and videos. Once you’ve seen the incredible HD quality of the TV spot, and the brilliance of the print ads, it may surprise you to learn that they were shot with a camera that costs hundreds, not thousands of dollars," said Mark Huggins, executive director, Brand Marketing, Olympus Imaging America Inc. "This is a paradigm shift in television advertising. A camera designed for a beginner, yet able to shoot video and still images that only professionals could take in the past, has captured all of the creative content in our ad campaign. This truly demonstrates the incredible capabilities of this product."

Stephen Mietelski, SVP, group creative director at Mullen, the agency that worked with Olympus on the campaign, said, "Olympus asked us to launch its latest PEN, and while testing out the camera’s capabilities we were impressed by its professional Digital SLR image quality, point-and-shoot simplicity, HD video and in-camera creativity. While developing concepts to highlight just how remarkable this camera is, we stumbled upon a simple and powerful idea: Rather than telling people "Look What You Can Do," let’s show them what they can do with the PEN by using the camera to produce all of the campaign advertising visuals."

The result is a TV commercial wherein a woman explains all the amazing capabilities of the new Olympus PEN while walking through an urban landscape. She explains the camera’s features while an array of extraordinary photo opportunities happen around her. A hang glider lands on a school bus, a traditional Chinese dragon dance walks in her path, a group of dogs dressed as bees swarm past her, she walks through a beach volleyball game on the sidewalk and a motorcycle gang riding minibikes appears out of nowhere and races past her. At the end of the commercial, water explodes out of a fountain behind her as she reveals the most amazing thing about this powerfully simple camera – the entire commercial was filmed with one. Similarly, all of the print advertising states that it was "Shot with a PEN."

To capture the television commercial, the director of photography used several lenses with the interchangeable-lens PEN cameras to get just the right look for the ad. "We had up to four PEN cameras in different positions rolling at all times and it was very exciting," said Michael Ancevic, SVP, group creative director at Mullen.

"Everyone was naturally skeptical in the beginning that a consumer camera could shoot a large-scale TV commercial, but it was interesting for all of us because it was a new challenge," Ancevic continued. "After extensive testing and exploration with our director of photography and his team, we pushed the PEN cameras to their full potential and grew even more excited because we were capturing truly rich images on the actual product that we were advertising. It felt like we were doing something different, something real."

The end result is a story that uses the medium as the message, and demonstrates the features of the camera by showing what consumers can do with the PEN. This is an important demonstrative asset in this highly integrated and digital campaign for the new Olympus PEN camera.