Nikon

Nikon, a camera company, took a major risk last summer at Warner Music Group’s 2013 SXSW Music Residency. In lieu of recording the great musical performances at this summer festival themselves, they gave out Wi-Fi-enabled cameras to select fans to film and take photos that could be instantly shared via social media. Having familiarity with music and technology, these attendees were the perfect candidates to spread the word about Nikon’s new camera. The gamble paid off as the live streams from the concert were viewed for a whopping 11 minutes on average. In large part due to tweeted photos and videos from concert-goers, the campaign resulted in over 166 million social impressions for the company. 

This is a great example of a large scale word-of-mouth campaign that was spread with the aid of social media. Nikon gave complete control to its fans by allowing them the opportunity to use the latest technology and share their impressions of it. The fans basically had the influence over marketing the new gadget and the brand’s reputation. I think it is incredibly cool that the company took this risk and allowed the product to speak for itself while refraining from using some sort of gimmicky ad. It makes them come across as a company that is proud of and confident in its product. I am much more likely to become interested in a product if I see that “real” people are using it and liking it.