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Sony Ericsson, photographer Robert Clark team up in brilliant advertising campaign

Photographer Robert Clark travels the U.S. and reports back with photos from his Sony Ericsson s710a [via kottke.org]

Robert Clark, a freelance photographer whose portfolio includes photos published in National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated, is working with American PHOTO on a project wherein Clark wanders around the U.S. in a van and documents his findings by posting images to an online photo blog.

The catch? All the photos have been taken with a Sony Ericsson s710a cameraphone — a $400 (with Cingular activiation, via Amazon) rotating-flip cell phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera.

Sony Ericsson has devised a brilliant plan to gain credibility in the photo enthusiast market — and at a fairly low cost. Here’s this beautiful website filled with stunning images taken only with a publically available (albeit high-end) cameraphone. What better way to dispel the notion that all photos that come from a cameraphone are a useless, grainy blur?

Of course, the site does a good job of hiding the phones weaknesses. First off, your average consumer simply isn’t Robert Clark. There’s a reason he’s an award winning photographer whose work is constantly gracing magazine covers while the rest of us have a scrapbook filled with slightly off-center shots with poor lighting. Then, only the best photos were selected for display — I’d be willing to bet that Clark took at least 10 photos for every 1 posted on the site. Even professionals throw plenty of shots away; and with a comparatively slow-reacting cameraphone, that throwaway ratio is probably higher. Also, notice that many of the shots are outdoor shots taken in strong lighting. Most cameraphones simply don’t handle harsh lighting conditions well — even ones with a built-in flash. Throw in some likely Photoshop sharpening, great use of black and white photos for effect, and small image sizes (the images are all about 320×240, despite the camera’s ability to take 1024×740 shots), and you have a collection that isn’t deceiving, but is definitely optimized.

And that optimization is what makes it so brilliant. I don’t believe the site is at all deceptive — it simply does a great job of showing the s710a’s capabilities. And you know what? Those really are great shots, and Clark really did take them with the s710a. Highlighting a product’s strengths is good advertising — and a strong word of mouth spreading the site to photo enthusiasts across the internet is effective advertising. Not only that, it’s placed well — American PHOTO’s readership is filled with photo enthusiasts who may be interested in taking more shots or making a photoblog without having to always carry around a separate digital camera.

I’m looking into getting a new cell phone, and the s710a has jumped to the top of my list of phones to consider. It’s bluetooth-enabled, has flash-card storage, and has a decent 1.3 megapixel camera in a digital camera form factor. I’d consider myself an amateur photo enthusiast, and the Clark photos really got my imagination going — I’d like to do that with my phone.

And that’s how great creative advertising should make you react.

Tue April 19th, 2005 2:53 am

Filed under Advertising & Marketing, Gadgets, Web