New Canons - "leaked" again.(Right!)

[kwanon]

Yes, these marketing antics are getting a little old now...

[macgyver]

I tend to agree.  People simply love being the one to break the news and reveal the suprise.  What better way to do this than weaseling out specs on a new camera to a bunch of diehard photogs?

-macgyver

[BernardLanguillier]

Hello Michael,

How was your vacation?

Although I agree with your assessement of how Japanese companies work, my view is that Canon is not just a Japanese company, it is a World company that has clearly understood that marketing is best handled in each geography, the North American market being most important for them. Let's face it, although they sell great products, their overwhelming success in the US has also a lot to do with smart marketing.

Besides, very much because I also know Japanese companies very well, having worked daily with them for 8 years now, I know from first hand experience that leaks that are not supposed to occur very rarely occur.

For what it is worth, the French magazine CDI made it clear on their web site last week that they also think that the leak was once more orchastrated by Canon. They find it very frustrating, since they are forced to stick to an ambargo while they feel Canon releases themselves the information on their side through leakes. Don't you find it to be a problem?

Their arguments: Canon does it because people like rumours, and the interest generated by leaks on internet forums is larger than what a plain press release does. Besides, the actual identity of many of those forum posters leaving very positive comments on the camera is un-known (are they real?) but the net outcome is most often a positive momentum for the camera before any magazine has the chance to release an objective/critical review of the specs. How convenient isn't it? This can also be a double edges sword though, and Canon did screw up a little this time with their poor landscape sample.

The leaks do also create a feeling of intimacy with the brand, especially when the rumours are confirmed, very much the same feeling used by movie makers who are good at telling people stories whose ending they already know.

What is the actual impact on sales? Very difficult to evaluate I guess, but why not do it if they feel that it can help? This is probably in the end just their instantiation of some "internet age marketing best practise" sold by some US marketing think tank, and I am sure that those guys produces convincing figures.

Regards,
Bernard

[wolfy]

...you have absolutely no idea of what Japanse companies are like, and how passionately they care about secrecy.

Michael

Can't argue with that. :( 

I suppose something that smells like a fish COULD really be a rose.

[wolfy]

[This comes under, "I don't really care how info is made known, but do they really think we are stupid?"]

Michael's observation: "In what Canon had hoped would be a surprise announcement, but which was spoiled by an inadvertent pre-release about a week ago, ..."

Are we really (still!)buying this?

How many times do we have to hear the same "Whoops! Someone will lose their job(head?) for THIS blunder!", after the latest Canon notice is pre-empted by an "accident"(Wink. wink. ;-).

C'mon. :cool:

[ndevlin]

I dissent.

Just exactly how many *more* 5D bodies will canon sell because of the 5-7 days of leak-hype on a couple of noisey news boards??  Surely no more than the 20D and 1DSII sales they lost over the same period of time. In fact, I'd bet the number is close to zero.

Does Canon get any better quantity/quality of hype and promo because of the leak? Definitely not.  In fact, if they had dropped the "D-Bomb" as a total surprise - like the 1Ds so many, many painful VISA statement periods ago - there would likely have been even more chatter and amazement.

I think these leaks are just a just an artefact of the basic human inability to keep our mouths shut.  It's how the original rumours got started months ago (some of which were totally accurate and thus originating from those with inside info), and it's how the leaks happen.  We get off by telling secrets.....

...if you doubt me, just visit the maximum security wing of any nearby penitentiary.

- N.

If you believe that these "leaks" are intentional you have absolutely no idea of what Japanse companies are like, and how passionately they care about secrecy.

Michael

The magazines concerns are misplaced. As you know, once information covered by a non-disclosure agreement is made publicly available by a third party the NDA covering that specific information is not longer binding.

Also, I can assure you based on first-hand knowledge, Canon Japan was majorly pissed at the leak of the spec sheet. Majorly!  

Finally, Canon is one of the most "Japanese" of the camera makers. All significant decisions are made in Tokyo.

By the way, I worked as both a national Product Manager and a Marketing Manager for a major Japanese electronics firm for 6 years. To my knowledge the only one of the companies in the photographic business that prvides any "real" autonomy to their national branches is Epson.

Michael

Michael