Canon Australia, who is under pressure in the digital camera market from a combination of grey marketers and aggressive competition from the likes of Nikon, Panasonic and Samsung, is refusing to disclose the revenues or profits of their Consumer Products Group after the company only managed 1% growth in their last reporting period, despite this they are set to spend $34M on brand marketing.
Now the company is set to spend $34M on brand marketing in an effort to regain lost share which is $10 million less than they spent last year.
The Japanese company, who issues a press release on just about anything that it is engaged in, is refusing to disclose whether the consumer group is profitable or whether its revenues are growing.
In December 2009 Canon Australia reported revenues of $934.5 Million, 1% up on the $924.4 million for the same period in 2008.
Profits went from $20 Million to $27.7 Million during the same period. In 2009 Canon claimed that their Oceania consumer revenues grew 19% however they did not break out the Australian market from other markets in the Oceania region.
According to several industry sources, Canon Australia is struggling to grow in the digital camera market this year, with the company now set to launch a new multimillion dollar branding campaign in an effort to lift awareness.
According to Canon sources the bulk of the profit during the last reporting period came from the sale of high end printers, photo copiers and image management systems.
Canon Australia and New Zealand’s Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Managing Director, Allan Corder, said recently that a focus on delivering long-term and engaging relationships with our channel partners and consumers, reducing costs and better management of inventory have contributed to the profit result.
“Canon was a driving force in growing the consumer market in 2009” he said. But as far as 2010 the company is keeping “mum” on their performance.
After running a promotion that was last Xmas labelled a “con” whereby consumers were asked to go into a million dollar draw that they had little chance of winning, Canon Australia is this year giving away a prize pool which they claim is valued at up to $1.3 million.
Canon has chartered an entire Boeing 737 jet which will take 52 lucky winners along with their friend for an exclusive ride.
Canon will also give away $680,000 in cash prizes with $500 drawn every 30 minutes between 9am and 5pm (AEDST) until 5 January 2011.
In 2009 SmartHouse tipped 3 months out that there was a 99% probability a consumer could not win the $1M prize Canon prize offered as an incentive during the 2009 Xmas period, we were right with the final winner failing to pick the winning image.
Canon who like to control their PR exposure to the point that they have alienated several journalists with their policy of demanding that journalists sign non disclosure agreements or face being banned from press events have come under flak recently.
In a recent iTjourno poll, several journalists indicated that they were refusing to sign non-disclosure agreements primarily because they saw them as being of “no use” and above all, restrictive in their news gathering efforts, especially when it came to online news, where companies like Canon often announce stories overseas and then expect Australian journalists not to report on product releases until the Australian subsidiary is ready.
In their latest marketing initiatives that were announced yesterday, Canon announced a new company tagline: “Inspires to achieve more”. They said this is the first step in what will be a mammoth marketing spend over the next 12 months.
Canon Australia MD, Kenji Kobayashi, has revealed that the total spend across all Canon categories for 2011 will be $34million, this is down from the $44M the company spent in the 2009 financial year or the $47M the Canon spent in 2008.
“Canon is continuing its transformation as a brand that speaks to the Australian market. So much of our brand is defined by the experience our customers gain from using our products and the new campaign resonates around the theme of ‘inspires to achieve more’. It’s designed to embrace both our consumer product and business products and solutions customers,” said Kobayashi.
