Print Your Pics …Or Suffer The Consequences
We’ve been pushing the joy (and importance) of printing your images for years now and, quite frankly, we’ve always found it a bit odd that the imaging industry never has. I mean, the wonder inherent in holding a printed photo in your hand literally carried the photo industry for over 100 years. So digital technology comes along – and then of course Facebook – and all of a sudden getting an image printed is somehow a hassle, old fashioned, boring?
We are delighted to report that Canon has apparently decided printing your photos is an excellent idea – even if they are using some very humorous scare tactics to get you to do it.
Spot On TV Spots
Their new TV spots for their Pixma printers, developed by their long time ad agency, Grey New York, offer up a few scenarios with some dire consequences for those that choose not to have their precious memories printed. The tagline for the campaign is “Never again” as those folks in the spots learn a few hard lessons after neglecting to print and utter those two words as a bit of an epitaph.
Our favorite is one of the most recent spots where a mom is asked by her very young son if she has the photo of his recent touchdown. After simply handing him the DSLR to scroll through, he and his buddy stumble upon a few images of his parents…well, let’s just say “playfully wrestling. Once her son starts asking a few odd questions, mom is seen frantically flying back into the room to retrieve the camera.
Another gem sees poor mom, yet again, explaining to her (maybe) seven year old daughter why the printed images hanging in the house all to seem to be of her older brother. The nervous explanation is, “Well when you were born we had Facebook so you’re tagged in all of mommy’s Facebook photos.” The stone-faced youngster then calmly walks away and begins destroying the house.
Along with loving the shot at Facebook, this one really says, “It’s not really a memory until it’s printed,” and we wholeheartedly agree with that notion.
Delightful Half Dozen
You can check out all the spots on YouTube by banging in Canon Pixma Never Again in the search bar. There are six spots currently running and all six are extremely funny – a job well done by Grey New York.
So, in closing, we’ll ask you to indulge us a bit as we offer up a Top Ten in classic Lettermanesque style that continues the photo printing push. Thus, we give you:
Our Top Ten
“The Top Ten Reasons to Print Your Pictures” list – which we hope will help drive the point home that Canon is trying to make even a little more indelibly.
Paul, drum roll please…
10 – Hard drives crash – shoeboxes don’t.
9- Watching images zip by on a TV screen in slideshow mode only means one thing – you’re watching TV again.
8- Computer monitor too big to handle by its edges, too big to fit in wallet.
7 – Makes black mail much easier.
6 – Gives an empty shoebox a reason to feel good about itself again.
5 – Watching a print of your child come out of a photo printer is a joyous occasion and far less painful than actual childbirth.
4 – How else can you get off on freshly printed ink fumes?
3 – Prints easier to burn in fit of jealous rage.
2 – Two words: pixels schmixels!
1 – Because the printing process is simply sheer, bloody magic!
Clyde
What has killed photo prints? High cost of ink used in inkjet printers, plain and simple.
Cliff Farris
Yes! Also, it is difficult to get really good looking color photos without a lot of editing. Go Zoner on this though.
Need:
1. Easier to calibrate printed and computer monitor colors,
2. Better way to preview printed images before spending ink on them,
3. Better way to cut out photos for saving in a shoebox,
4. Project management guidance for thousands of photos – a daunting task.
Cliff Farris