Why Canon roped in Anushka

In order to gauge the brand visibility of Canon cameras among the masses, Canon India has recently conducted a third party survey. However, the result of the survey did not meet company's expectation. Hence to enhance the brand visibility, Canon decided to break its old tie-up with Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and roped in Bollywood beauty Anushka Sharma.
Speaking more about this survey to The DQ Week, Seiji Hamanishi, assistant director, image communication products division, Canon India said, "We carried a market survey to know the perception of the masses about brand Canon. We were with Tendulkar for so many years, but still we found that the mass market do not connect with Canon products. Therefore, we looked for many candidates to choose as our new brand ambassador and finally we singed up with Anuksha for our compact camera range, as style and youth icon. Moving forward, we want to establish Canon as a brand for the masses in India.

Currently, Canon has two range of cameras-Power Shot and IXUS and Professional( DLSR). The company enjoys 24% marketshare in the entire compact segment, whereas in the DLSR space, the company claims to have #1 position with 49% marketshare in FY 12.
Talking about its expansion plans, Hamanishi added, "We intend to expand our retail reach by adding more Canon Image Square(CIS) and multi-branded stores. Presently, Canon has 2,000 multi-branded outlets and 70 existing exclusive Canon Image Squares, but the company has plans to grow its reach to another 1,000 multi-branded stores by end of this year and 300 CIS by the end of 2014."

He also pointed, that unlike countries like Japan, US and Europe, Canon has built their product as the most sought after the Indian camera dealers. Another area Canon is looking at is stretching its reach outside main metros. For Canon, camera business contributes significant to the overall revenue to Canon India. In FY12, Canon camera contribution was 40% and in the next financial year it is expected to grow to 50%. Lastly, Canon's prime goal is to develop photography as a culture in India.