How Fujifilm remains committed to ‘Never Stop’ innovating for a better world

Japanese multinational conglomerate, Fujifilm has been committed to its objective of strengthening its presence in India, and thereby reaching the right audience with its tactful and targeting messaging through several small and large campaigns. The brand recently launched a few insightful campaigns, including ‘If you can’t print it, it’s not worth it’ featuring Milind Soman, the ‘Never stop screening to reduce diagnostic delays’ campaign to promote early diagnosis of TB, along with its global campaign ‘#10yearsofMountX’ for the celebration of X-series range of cameras, among others, thereby aligning with its ethos of spreading awareness and gaining significant mindshare among stakeholders.

In conversation with Adgully, Tribhuwan Joshi, Lead - Brand and CSR, Fujifilm India, sheds light on how Fujifilm will “never stop” when it comes to innovating for a better world and a more sustainable society. He says, “With a timeless focus on innovation, we have ensured that we build a closer connection with our customers and audiences, becoming more relationship driven than product driven.” Excerpts:

How has Fujifilm managed to reach the right audience through its campaigns over the years?

As a legacy brand, Fujifilm India has seen communication strategies evolve year after year. Communicating the brand’s ethos to our stakeholders across verticals, and reiterating our commitment to India, however remains at the heart of whatever we do at Fujifilm. Over the years, we have run multiple high-impact campaigns not only for our camera and healthcare verticals, but also under the umbrella of corporate branding and CSR. We realise that our target audience is diverse and therefore, we make an effort to reach them via multiple both, online and offline mediums. Following a healthy mix of strategic communication via thought leadership pieces, local and national advertisements, tactful OOH and social media campaigns, we constantly endeavor to strengthen our relationships with our target audience. Fujifilm India has also made a consistent effort to dwell into TV commercials and used new age media platforms for amplification of various campaigns, such as interesting contests to increase engagement with audiences and create a strong brand recall.

What are the recent campaigns launched by Fujifilm? What is the concept behind those?

The primary idea behind all of our campaigns has been in line with our vision as a brand to “NEVER STOP” Innovating. We are focussed on encouraging people to become aware of the various possibilities that they can unlock with an innovation-first mindset and how they can be great at what they do. At the heart of all our campaigns, lies our vision to ‘Never Stop Innovating for a Better World’.

Recently, we launched an exciting festive campaign titled, Print Your Moment for our instant camera business Fujifilm Instax, starring celebrity Milind Soman. The campaign highlighted how printed memories have the ability to last a lifetime and always instill a feeling of sheer happiness and nostalgia whenever revisited. Using a strategic mix of OOH advertising and digital mediums, we shed light on the significant role that printed photographs play in our lives. The campaign video was conceptualized around the feelings of familial love, happiness and nostalgia, and timeless memories.

While we aim to use a mix of mediums, our campaigns also often function right from the grassroots level. In the CSR space on the other hand, we launched Never Stop: Screening to Reduce Diagnostic Delays campaign, as part of which, a mobile screening van ran across 20+ cities in North India screening people for Tuberculosis, in areas that would otherwise not have access to these facilities. The Fujifilm team also facilitated medical aid for the screened people. Still running, the campaign is in line with the government’s goal - TB free India by 2025.

We have also leveraged video campaigns in the past to communicate our messages. Another one of recent campaigns in the healthcare space featured two new videos under the overarching - NEVER STOP campaign. Aimed at spreading awareness about the importance of regular medical tests to eliminate the chance of chronic health ailments, the campaign videos focus on the significance of timely health checkups for people of all ages.

The campaign, titled "Never Stop: Innovating for a healthier world", featured the world-class diagnostic facilities provided by the NURA centre in partnership with Fujifilm.

How has been the response received from those campaigns?

Curated for different audience sets, our campaigns have managed to garner impact across demographics. We are proud of the support we’ve received over years and how we have been able to increase brand visibility and awareness through our marketing campaigns across verticals.

What has been the marketing mix for Fujifilm this year?

This year, we have created a careful recipe of marketing mediums with a mix of traditional as well as digital mediums. For us at Fujifilm, physical, print and OOH campaigns remain central to what we do on certain divisions, owing to our diverse physical retail presence. In addition to this, we also believe in the moving impact that digital mediums create. Most of our on-ground campaigns this year have been announced with powerful video montages.

We have also amplified our brand campaign – Never Stop- through the medium of television, Digital OOH, Event as well. Therefore, one can easily say that we truly believe exploring various media mediums for our marketing and branding initiatives.

How has the marketing strategy and brand messaging of Fujifilm evolved over the years?

A couple of decades ago, the idea of engaging with one’s target audience directly, gathering their feedback or just communicating the brand’s messaging seemed foreign and unlikely. Today, however, the world has evolved to a more interconnected and close state of being. Everything is a click away, and so is your target audience. This has been one of the most impactful and meaningful evolutions of today’s age and time.

In context of this, Fujifilm India has also evolved and changed by manifolds. With a timeless focus on innovation, we have ensured that we build a closer connection with our customers and audiences, becoming more relationship driven than product driven. Seeding impactful relationships particularly on social media and engaging with our stakeholders has been a fundamental change in strategy.

When it comes to innovating for a healthier world and a more sustainable society, we’ll NEVER STOP.

As the year ends, what is the marketing strategy that brands must have? What are the latest marketing trends according to Fujifilm?

I believe that now that the world is ready to leave the impact of the pandemic behind and look ahead, it is essential to get back on the ground and do what communication professionals do best - seed relationships, via on-ground events, marketing activations or otherwise. Keeping an eye out for trends and incorporating the same across marketing strategies whether online or offline is an essential tactic that we can use. In addition to this, the short-form video space is rising by leaps and bounds.

Marketers must understand that the attention span of audiences across demographics is decreasing and therefore, it is essential to keep the same in mind while devising marketing strategies. We are keen to tap this space at Fujifilm.

In my opinion, however, print, OOH and TVCs still hold a lot of value, particularly because Fujifilm is a business entity with both, B2B and B2C stakeholders. High-impact traditional mediums allow us to tap into the minds of audiences from across demographics. It is therefore, critical to understand your audience first, and employ the right strategy.

How has the pandemic impacted the brand vision of Fujifilm? How was the festive season for it?

Post the pandemic, the festive season has come as great respite to Indian businesses and played a fundamental role in reviving sales and growth for companies from various sectors.

For us at Fujifilm, it has been fundamental with respect to increased sales, especially for owing to festive discounts and gifting. During this time, we ran online campaigns across e-commerce websites, especially for Instax starring Milind Soman to give consumers a chance to grab their favorite products at affordable prices. The campaign was run across all of Fujifilm India’s key retail locations, as well as online. It is no doubt that the campaign also enabled us to strengthen our footprint, helping us with increased sales in the instant camera and printers space.

How has the target audience of Fujifilm evolved over the years?

Over the years, as Fujifilm has diversified into various categories, reaching a wider target audience and stakeholder group. Owing to the diverse nature of our business, Fujifilm India has a multi-faceted target audience ranging from the general public, professionals (photographers) to businesses and large enterprises. We have always aimed to listen to what the market needs and evolve accordingly. Our digital camera business for example, targets content creators, amateur photographers to professional wedding and landscape photographers. From teenagers, to Gen-Z, to millenials, our camera business is spread out extensively in the B2C space.Our healthcare business, on the other hand, previously only catered to trade partners, however, our purview has now expanded to healthcare professionals, medical institutions, trade associations, etc. This proves to show Fujifilm India’s footprint across B2B and B2C spaces.

What is Fujifilm’s vision for the future? What are its growth projections

Fujifilm is determined to remain a leading company by boldly taking up the challenge of developing new products and creating new value.Fujifilm’s commitment to ‘Never Stop’ innovation for a better world encourages us as a brand to never lose touch with our audiences. When it comes to innovating for a healthier world and a more sustainable society, we’ll NEVER STOP.