Picture-Perfect Gifts
April 07, 2008
From pocket-size to high-end, these cameras are truly memorable
By Christopher Munden
Since the earliest days of fragile daguerreotypes, photographs have been an invaluable way to capture and preserve memories. Camera technology has improved considerably since Louis Daguerre—almost every month, a major manufacturer introduces a new, better, more colorful personal digital camera—but in today's world of continual innovation, cameras retain a universal appeal that transcends age and professional background.
Because of their wide appeal and the constant introduction of new products, cameras work extremely well as incentive gifts. And as Terry Markwart, director and assistant general manager for special markets for Canon U.S.A., points out, digital cameras often have a "trophy value" in excess of their actual cost. "If it's a really nice camera," says Markwart, "people will see you with it and say, 'Wow. That's a really nice camera. Where'd you get that?' And you begin to tell the story: 'Well, my company gave it to me…' Then you start telling how you won the sales contest or made a really good suggestion."
The high perceived value of digital cameras makes them ideal gifts for an incentive program. When they were first introduced in the late 1980s, digital cameras retailed for many thousands of dollars. Each year brings less expensive cameras with higher photo resolutions. When picking a digital camera for an incentive program, Dave Peer, vice president of client services at Chicago-based Hinda Incentives, suggests sticking with one of the top brands like Canon, Nikon or Fuji. "The lines like Fuji and Canon are setting the pace for us," he remarks.
The wide market range of cameras makes them suitable for any incentive program. High-end cameras make great luxury items; disposable cameras are great additions to gift packs. Industry insiders like David Monteith, president of Southern Marketing Incentives and a manufacturer's representative for Nikon, points to colorful mid-range digital cameras like Nikon's Coolpix L18 as the hottest items for today's incentive programs. Markwart confirms that "the most popular Canon models are usually in the colorful Elph series," which have retail prices beginning at about $250.
The Coolpix L18 is a recently announced entry in the world of colorful digital cameras. Available in the stark colors of navy and ruby red, the L18 is an attractive and full-featured product that should appeal to all incentive program managers. Bill Giordano, general manager of marketing for Nikon, calls it "user-friendly, ultra-portable and a tremendous value for consumers."
Features on the L18 include an easy auto mode, allowing the user to enjoy carefree shooting without having to adjust any settings or controls; an enhanced face-priority system, which automatically finds and focuses on a subject's face in a frame; in-camera red-eye fix; an innovative anti-shake feature that minimizes blurry images by automatically adjusting shutter speeds and ISO settings; and D-lighting, which compensates for excessive backlight or insufficient flash in images. The 3x zoom Nikkor lens is suitable for a variety of settings, from intimate personal portraits to wide landscapes. Perhaps most appealing is the large and bright three-inch LCD screen. The Coolpix L18 can also be used for short movie recording, with sound and picture capabilities ideal for playback on televisions and computers. This product has a suggested retail price of just $139.95.
A similarly affordable product from Fuji USA has also been attracting the attention of incentive planners. Fuji's 10-megapixel FinePix Z20fd is packed with features and comes in four luminous colors—jet black, wasabi green, hot pink and ice blue—that make it a distinctive and individual gift. According to Heather Chevreau of Fuji Marketing, the colors of the Z-series cameras have made them "extremely popular with the under-30 crowd of award recipients."
Standard features on the Z20fd include automatic red-eye removal, face-detection technology and picture-stabilization technology. Fuji has also packed the Z-series with software to allow on-camera editing of photographs and technology for easy wireless transfer of pictures to other portable devices. The Z20fd retails for $199.95.
The newest addition to Canon's Elph series is the PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Elph, which has a suggested retail price of $249.99. All Elph cameras are fashionable and compact and have elegant all- aluminum construction. The new SD1100 IS adds another dimension to the line's stylish appeal: color. The SD1100 IS is available in five designer shades—bohemian brown, pink melody, rhythm and blue, golden tone, and swing silver—colors that add an element of individualization to the camera.
With 8-megapixel resolution, the PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Elph is also rich with features that will appeal to young salespeople or clients. The cameras feature the latest generation of Canon's face- detection, face-selection and motion- detection technology, and an advanced optical image-stabilization system that significantly reduces the image-blurring effects of camera shake by shifting the lens to compensate for the movement.
Canon's PowerShot A580 digital camera is another popular product for incentive programs. This 8-megapixel camera has a large, bright LCD display, the option of fully automatic or semiautomatic settings, and 16 easily selectable shooting modes, making it an ideal gift for amateur photographers. The silver patina of its durable shell and easy-to-hold grip gives the PowerShot A580 a perceived value considerably above its $149.99 suggested retail price.
To further enhance the perceived value of a digital camera, Markwart suggests giving the gift extra individual touches, like having the case embroidered with the recipient's name or bundling the gift with extras like a photo printer, a bigger memory card or a photo album. "The whole idea in the incentive industry is personalization," says Markwart.
A highly individualized camera can be used as a luxury gift item. Christopher Hall, an independent ski photographer based in Park City, Utah, suggests the Canon EOS 400 Digital Rebel XTi, with a suggested retail price of $599, as "an easy-to-use high-end camera, which should reward even a novice photographer with excellent pictures." David Monteith notes that specialty cameras can be "so popular that clients come back for additional lenses or other accompanying pieces. We are not necessarily done with the incentive project once we have distributed the camera."
Monteith has seen cameras used in numerous incentive programs. "The overwhelming majority are for use as length-of-service awards or other such gifts," he says. Several companies have used colorful cameras as a supplement to a gift of international travel, with the idea that the recipient can take photos and remember the awarded trip. With such a broad appeal and varied purposes, it is no surprise that cameras continue to top lists of the most popular incentive gifts. Bring a little color to your incentive program with one of these vibrantly decorated digital cameras.
Send comments to incentivemagazine@nielsen.com.
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