Canon To Take On Xerox Via New DCA Ads

In an effort to steal market share from leader Xerox, Canon USA will launch four new copier and printer products this fall backed by nearly $25 million in ads from DCA Advertising.
The product-focused work builds on Canon's current "Image Anyware" campaign, a series of black-and-white spots that spoofed office angst about noncommunicative machines and positioned Canon as a digital "systems solutions" company. DCA's new ads, which break in October, retain the "Image Anywhere" tagline and tout the GP600 high-volume, digital multi-function networking copier.
"We have two [creative options] currently on the table," said Bill Cronin, vice president of Canon's Imaging Systems Group in Lake Success, N.Y. The black-and-white approach is one choice, but "we may switch to shooting the campaign in color. Either way, you can expect a sense of humor."
With launch of the GP series, the NP9120 high-volume copier and the LBP network laser printers, Canon enters three new product categories. The client is aiming for a 20 percent share in each of these segments by the end of 2000, according to Canon chief executive Haruo Murase.
For the launch of its CLC 2400 high-speed color copier, three new spots break in September, also with the "Image Anyware" theme. In one, a man gives his lover a bouquet of roses. A voiceover intones: "The color of love, one of the colors between the colors created by Canon. Its only competition is reality." Canon is established in the high-speed color copier market. --with Tobi Elkin