Campaigns We Love: Tales By Light – Canon Australia

This campaign comes in a different form than what you’re used to on this blog as it’s not strictly a digital campaign, but regardless of that, I feel as though it’s one of the best examples of content marketing I have ever come across.

Let me explain why.

Tales By Light is a 6 episode mini-series originally aired on National Geographic (now on Netflix in the UK) and was made in partnership with Canon Australia. It follows professional photographers around the world as they embark on various photography assignments, ranging from  awe inspiring Humpback Whales in the seas of Tonga to documenting a religious fire festival deep in the Himalayas.

I was hooked from the first episode. In fact before watching the second, I went digging around in the cupboards in order to find my cameras and put them on charge. And that’s when the penny dropped; this was absolutely genius content marketing by Canon.

Truest Form of Content Marketing

The series places you in the shoes of these photographers, who are immersed in these amazing places and situations. There is minimal focus on the technical elements and a much greater emphasis is placed on their joy and passion of photography, and why they go to such extreme lengths to capture such incredible images.

By doing this, Canon has managed to resonate with the reason that people take up photography to begin with: to capture and create great images. I’m yet to speak to someone who got into photography because of the 61-point AF system of the Canon 1DX (as impressive at it is). While technical specifications are no doubt important to the outcome of photograph (especially for serious photographers), it’s not inspiring to focus on those things.

They completely understand their target personas, and have instilled  a desire to create great images. By focusing on the emotion and the ‘why’ of photography, they’ve managed to inspire and enforce a real hunger to go out and take photographs. And if you’re a company that sells cameras, then that’s a powerful feeling to evoke. This really is the magic of the series and the genius of the campaign.

Read more: Campaigns We Love: Burberry’s Festive Film