This post is a response to Tim Blonks’s post “Barbed Wire and Marketing” (https://blogs.ubc.ca/timblonk/).
I agree with Tim that “people have different tastes in what they like, what they want, and how they perceive the things around them”. However, as an amatuer photographer with far less experience than Tim, I must respectfully oppose his views about the two giants of the camera industry and the effectiveness of their marketing.
My interpretation of Tim’s post is that he’s a big fan of Nikon and not so much a fan of Canon. When he said that he would “never buy a canon camera” because of Nikon’s effective marketing I infer that he’s criticizing Canon’s marketing. Personally I use neither brand but I think it is unfair to make a quick judgement about Canon.
To an amatuer photographer like me, who just take pictures for fun, Nikon and Canon depict two very distinct styles. Nikon is more professional, more serious, and perhaps a little classier as well. In contrast, Canon is more playful, more fun, and just simply cooler. Having said that, I perfectly understand why a professional photographer like Tim would like Nikon more than Canon.
Nikon and Canon are just an example of two companies which compete in the same industry but position themselves differently from one another. Their products are essentially the same but because of the way that they portray themselves they can target and capture two very different segments of the market. Here are commercials from both Nikon and Canon which clearly shows their identity:
