THE XPLORING BRIEF

The digital revolution has made photography accessible to everyone as the digital camera market is developing faster than other creative media, both technically and creatively. People now have an ever-expanding choice of tools to create their pictures while one product innovation is chasing the next. Everybody is able to document their lives and to explore their creative potential without taking any risks. Not only have people been empowered to create more images of their lives but also to share them and collaborate with others. Photographs have become the new social currency that people are trading on social networking sites to influence others and express their identity. It’s a universal language everyone can understand, but the quantity of images has taken over the quality of photos leading to digital inertia. Digital cameras are becoming commoditized in the megapixel and price battle. Consumers are trying to stay on top of the digital camera swamp as they are stuck in a tyranny of choice. What all camera brands are failing to do is to create an emotional connection with people who may not be passionate about photography as such, but use digital cameras in their everyday lives.

The purpose of this Xploring project is to uncover a strategic insight that will help us lift people’s rational barriers and take us to a powerful organizing idea.

Areas of Curiosity:
- The rise of creativity in people’s everyday lives
- People’s hidden creative talents
- How people reportage their lives in pictures
- How people’s see the world through their camera
- People’s passion to preserve their experiences on pictures
- What makes a good camera for ordinary people


THE XPLORING TASK
Xploring is based on a very simple principle:
If you want to understand how a tiger hunts, don’t go to the zoo...Go to the jungle.

Xploring is much more than gathering information, it means going into unknown territory. Taking risks, perhaps taking a wrong turn. It means following your gut and listening, really listening. It means trusting your instincts, over and beyond the facts given. Knowing that when you do, you'll see more, understand more.

We will spend the next weeks with real people in the real world to understand the things that matter to them when taking pictures. Our Xploring journey will take us to people living in Germany, Poland, Russia, Italy, Spain and the U.K. We will go to their homes, spend a day with their families and friends, share their personal memories, connect with them through social networking sites, go on a night out, play with their cameras, listen to their stories, and observe their creative abilities…etc.


22 July 2009

The disappointment of a bad picture




We are at the Lovebox festival in Victoria park. The event is sold out. 40.000 people have come to enjoy a weekend of good music, booze and beautiful people. It's the perfect setting for eccentric outfits and behaviour. There's a subject to be captured on camera where ever you look.
And almost every second person has a digital camera on them. You can spot hands up in the air pointing and shooting into the crowd or onto the stage. Others are posing for their mates or even strangers, pulling silly faces and being creative. I spot a guy who is fast asleep on the grass.









His mates are seezing the moment by decorating him with all sorts of junk lying around. It's the perfect image for anyone passing by. I meet Simon who has brought his Panasonic Digital with HD video function and is filming the scene. It turns out that he has another camera at home. A Canon SLR. "I brought the Panasonic because it is great for little movies. My SLR is for decent pictures, this one I use for less important events. The first digital camera I bought was a Sony Cybershot. I bought it before I went travelling the world. I have to say most images I took back then aren't that great. Red eyes, blurred images. I am pretty disappointed when I look at those images now." He seems to have learned from his mistakes and his choice in cameras has changed since then. I ask him what he knows about Nikon. "My dad always used Nikon. It is the best camera in SLR. But it didn't even cross my mind when I was looking for a new compact, because I just don't believe that they do proper compacts. They are an SLR manufacturer."

Insights:
- People grow with their photographic mistakes.
- There is nothing more disappointing than a picture that doesn't do the moment justice.
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