Main points: Digital camera maker Fujifilm is starting a major push for its new 3-D camera by advertising, for the first time, in cinemas across the country. Canon, Eastman Kodak and a few others outsell Fujifilm, but Fujifilm’s digital camera sales have grown “significantly from last year.” The 3D ad will run immediately before the feature, through Dec. 30, on showings of “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” “Tron,” “Megamind,” “Tangled,” and “Yogi Bear.” “They are aimed at families who have kids playing soccer or other games, and someone who has about $250 to spend.”
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With the holiday buying season under way, the digital camera maker Fujifilm is starting a major push for its new 3-D camera by advertising, for the first time, in cinemas across the country.
About 75 percent of households own a digital camera, according to industry data, but sellers like the Fujifilm North America Corporation are appealing particularly to families that want a new photo experience or to invest in a second (or third) higher-quality camera that goes beyond snapshots.
Digital cameras are a favorite gift — nearly 21 million were bought last year — and their sales have dipped only slightly despite the shaky economy, said Christopher Chute, market research manager for IDC’s Worldwide Digital Imaging Practice.
“The growth rate for cameras declined starting in 2004 because 40 to 50 percent of households had a digital camera,” he said. “Now we’re seeing more innovation, including colors, waterproofing and zoom lenses, as vendors are jockeying for sales.”
Canon, Eastman Kodak and a few others outsell Fujifilm, but Fujifilm’s digital camera sales have grown “significantly from last year,” said Ron Gazzola, vice president for marketing in Fujifilm’s Electronic Imaging Division, which sells digital cameras for consumers.
The company declined to say how much it was spending on its advertising effort, but Mr. Gazzola said its new campaign was giving Fujifilm about six times as much exposure as its comparable 2009 seasonal effort. This year’s campaign includes digital billboards in Times Square, fliers, online ads, regional print ads and an ad intended for a Latin audience.
Holiday sales are critical for consumer electronics companies, which sell about 40 percent of all digital cameras in the last three months of the year. This year, about $4.5 billion worth of cameras are expected to be sold, according to figures from the NPD Group’s retail tracking service.
Cameras with interchangeable lenses are popular sellers this year, but so is connectivity. Kodak, for example, is centering its “So Kodak” holiday marketing on its EasyShare digital cameras with a “share button,” to make it quicker to send photos.
“People want to be in the pictures and share them with others,” said Leslie Dance, vice president for worldwide brand marketing. Kodak’s campaign, with performers Rihanna, Drake, Trey Songz and Pitbull, is intended for a 20-something audience through national television spots, radio, online advertising and social media.
To match the novelty of its 3-D camera, Fujifilm decided to market them in an unusual place, movie theaters.
“This was the best place where we could introduce this product to the family audience,” said Mr. Gazzola. “We know there will be packed houses during the holidays. We’ve never had that kind of concentrated exposure in a great venue, with a captive audience.”
The 3-D ad, which will be shown globally, was developed and produced by Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Dusseldorf, along with German production firm First Floor, said Ogilvy spokesman James Happel.
Called “City Trip,” the commercial shows two young men looking at a friend’s photos from a trip to New York City. Immersed in the experience, the three friends are transported to the streets of New York where gushing water from a hydrant is suspended like ice crystals. One of the men asks if the camera can also make movies, and the water suddenly unfreezes, splashing over the three friends.
The ad began last month with the showing of the movie, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.” It will run immediately before the feature, through Dec. 30, on showings of “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” “Tron,” “Megamind,” “Tangled,” and “Yogi Bear.”
For the moment 3-D cameras are still a niche product, with sales comprising less than 5 percent of the market. As more people acquire 3-D televisions, sales of the cameras — which can be hooked up to a 3-D TV using a H.D.M.I. cable — most likely will increase.
In the meantime, Fujifilm is also building its share in another growing camera segment — the long zoom digital, meant for families with children wanting a higher quality, speedier alternative for long-range pictures, said Mr. Gazzola.
In 2009, 10x and greater optical zoom camera sales grew to 14 percent, from 9 percent, and while they do not bring in as much revenue as detachable-lens cameras, they still comprise 23 percent of the segment’s revenue, according to the NPD Group.
Long zoom digital cameras, offered by other manufacturers as well, have better lenses and other improvements and have been restyled to resemble professional-grade cameras, said Mr. Chute, of IDC. “They are aimed at families who have kids playing soccer or other games, and someone who has about $250 to spend.”
Fujifilm’s first television commercial for digital cameras since 2007 showcases its FinePix HS10, which takes movies and photos with high-speed, continuous shooting, and the S-Series digital cameras, which have a wide-angle optical zoom.
The campaign, called “Zoom Your World,” was shot by the director Francoise Vogel, and the production company Paranoid U.S. The 30-second ad will be shown on prime-time network and cable channels through Dec. 22, and a 15-second version of the ad will appear on digital billboards in Times Square.
The commercial is set in an idyllic field, with a mother taking photos of her husband and daughter.
“To illustrate such a powerful zoom and the emotion that is drawing the family together, the mother drifts, at the end, toward the family,” said Paul J. Cirigliano, creative director of Cinquino+co, Fujifilm’s advertising agency.
The commercial, which is aimed at people in their late 20s to early 40s, has been shown during programs like “Glee,” “Survivor: Nicaragua,” “Dancing With the Stars,” during certain N.F.L. broadcasts on Fox and CBS and on the early morning news shows on ABC and Fox-affiliated stations. Fujifilm and other photo sellers also are increasingly interested in Hispanic audiences. The company is building on an effort it began last summer with promotions on Univision’s World Cup Soccer coverage, ads in the magazine People in Español and ads on various Hispanic radio stations in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Chicago.