The development and consumption of branded entertainment has followed a formula. Advertisers provide funding, a media or entertainment entity with cultural equity creates and pushes out the content, and agencies supervise the process. Consumers are now used to seeing products or brands integrated into their entertainment of choice. This process has produced work that is usually well received en masse, though often publically critiqued.Change and evolution is necessary, especially as social media takes hold of pop culture consumption and consumers yearn for authenticity in their relationships with brands. Media companies now capitalise on the economics of branded entertainment via traditional advertising sales processes, and creativity within the attempt at ‘organic’ integration of brands has suffered. The future of branded entertainment is to create a highly relevant platform that is decidedly not product-focused yet in line with the advertiser’s DNA. Canon’s ‘Project Imagin8ion’ is an innovative example that forwards the agenda of branded entertainment. Canon’s audience of active content creators responded to the opportunity to inspire Ron Howard. His film did not feature Canon products or brand messaging, yet the platform fostered a conversation about a new approach to a creative process, elevating the brand’s equity via entertainment.

Instead of trying to sell Canon DSLR cameras by listing all of their high-tech features, we were challenged to leverage the endless creative possibilities these cameras offered our consumers and to position Canon as the ultimate creative enabler. Furthermore, we had to maintain Canon’s vital heritage in the still image, while also owning industry-revolutionizing DSLR HD video. In addition, after the tragic tsunami in Japan, which threw a ripple in Canon’s supply chain, we needed an idea that formed an emotional bond with consumers, keeping the brand relevant in a highly engaging and impactful way.Canon’s ‘Project Imagin8ion’ was the first photo contest in history to inspire a Hollywood film. The project invited the masses to help shape the next production of 2-time Oscar-winning director, Ron Howard. By interpreting 8 core tenets of storytelling, photographers from all skill levels could dictate things like setting, goal and main character. After a user-generated vote decided the finalists, the 8 winning photographs were chosen by Ron Howard, who then had to narratively sew them together in a film shot on Canon’s new Cinema EOS camera, which premiered at the Museum of Natural History in New York City.There were teasers in Time Square, press releases, digital tactics, behind-the-scenes, guerrilla strategies, coffee table books, flipbooks, a screenplay excerpt program, a movie trailer, and invitations to the premiere. At the final film’s premiere at the Museum of Natural History, guests experienced the journey of the project by walking through an immersive gallery made up of the nearly 100,000 printed submissions, all leading to the screening of ‘When you find me’, a Ron Howard production. The film then aired in theatres across the country, including screenings at the Sundance, South by Southwest and Tribeca film festivals.

Project Imagin8ion launched with a national TV spot that invited the masses to join this unique filmmaking experiment at our YouTube site. There were OOH teasers in Time Square, press releases, digital tactics on popular sites like the New York Times, Yahoo and YouTube, behind-the-scenes, guerrilla strategies, coffee table books, flipbooks, a screenplay excerpt program, a movie trailer, and invitations to the premiere.After the film’s premiere at the Museum of Natural History, the film aired in theatres across the country, including the Sundance, South by Southwest and Tribeca film festivals, and an exclusive online premiere on the contest site.

This unique opportunity garnered photo entries at a world record-shattering pace, over 25,000 a week. As buzz exploded, the project reached an $8.4m earned media value, over half a billion earned media impressions, and total impressions near 3.5bn and still climbing. Following the contest launch, Canon gained a colossal 30-point swing in unit share over their biggest competitor, Nikon. In addition, by Black Friday, Canon’s market share spiked to an unprecedented 71.7%, making November the best month in Canon’s history, during the biggest shopping weekend of the year.Lastly, with the final film shot on the new Canon Cinema EOS camera, we secured Canon’s ownership of industry-revolutionizing DSLR HD-video among the Hollywood A-list.