NEW DELHI
JANUARY 2, 2007

Canon India, a complete digital imaging company, entered its 10th year of operations in the country. On this momentous occasion the company announced a number of innovative and exciting programs to kick start its anniversary celebrations in the country.

As a part of its 10th Anniversary Celebrations, Canon is looking at 'Indianising' the brand appeal and has signed on Sachin Tendulkar as the company's Corporate Brand Ambassador starting January 1, 2007. Sachin will be a part of Canon advertising, 10th anniversary celebrations, retail, press and outdoor campaigns. He will also be a part of the special Canon Anniversary Calendar that will be shot by ace photographer Atul Kasbekar to be launched later this year.

Speaking on this occasion, Alok Bharadwaj, VP, Canon India said, "It is a proud moment for all of us at Canon as we close our first decade in India. The company started operations in 1997 and has grown tremendously since then touching a revenue of Rs 400 crore in 2006. It was a momentous occasion to have acquired over one million customers in December 2006 and to have received 151 awards in nine years. The Digital Iimaging Industry in India has a positive outlook and we are confident that the next decade will be as successful as the first."

He further added, "We are very excited about this year as we are entering in Phase II of our growth in India. We are initiating a number of programs to mark our 10th Anniversary Celebrations. Our customers and channel partners have lots to look forward to from us. We are particularly thrilled to have Sachin Tendulkar be a part of our communication campaign. Keep a look out for this and much more of us in 2007."

Starting January 2007, the company will be embarking on an aggressive communication program which will feature editorial and advertising campaigns across different media. As the company continues to increase its penetration in smaller cities and reach out to more socio-economic segments, enhancing the brand connect will be an important direction. Canon will be spending over Rs 30 crore towards our brand building initiatives to make the Canon brand more appealing to the target audience through visibility at various customer touch points, and the tie up with Sachin Tendulkar will integrate with this program.

As a part of these celebrations, Canon will be embarking on a 100 city customer contact program through a Mobile Mini Expo across different tier-2 and -3 cities. This Expo will aim at increasing customer awareness, introducing channel partners to the Canon Gyan Yatra and will culminate in a Grand Expo to be held in October 2007.

Canon launches over 80 products each year and 2007 will see the same trend. New products mean new technologies and in most cases, pioneering new functionalities and technologies. This is a key initiative for Canon's IInd phase of growth where the company will be expanding into new product categories, new vertical customer segments and new geographical regions.

Canon will also be announcing the inauguration of its first Digital Media Lab located at School of Convergence in New Delhi. The lab will be equipped with all the latest Canon products needed for students to learn digital still photography. This lab is the first of its kind in India and Canon is looking at opening more such centres across the country through the anniversary year.

Canon will also be working on a number of customer loyalty programs, announcing special schemes and offers for its consumers in India. For example we are looking at launching a customer loyalty program for our consumables and printer consumers where they can accumulate points and redeem them in return for exciting offers. What better time than now with over 1 million customer base for Canon. To facilitate this, Canon will be strengthening its retail presence across the country. Canon has engaged with 237 retail outlets today including 140 IT Imaging zones, 54 Digiclick Zones, 7 Digic Video Zones, 4 Canon Xperience Zones and 32 Canon Care Centers. The company plans to take these to 500 stores by the end of 2007.
On the retail front, Canon will tie up with 20 national retail chains and 50 city based retail chains.

In addition, Canon announced that it will be opening a Level 3 Canon Master Service center for the service of its camera, camcorder and professional camera range of products in Mumbai Currently, Canon has one master service centre for camera products which is located at Gurgaon which will also be revamped. These new centres will have a new brand identity and will help us connect with the customers more closely. These are Canon owned centres with staff trained by Canon directly and will also carry the entire display of Camera products for customer touch and feel.

For its employees, the company will be organizing a number of different motivational programs and will be strengthening its internal communication programs along with giving away special anniversary momentos. 'People engagement' will be the theme through 2007.

As the company reinforces it commitment to India, Canon India will be enhancing its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives as it adopts 10 children to fund their education. In addition the company announced that a proportion of all sales proceeds will be spent on environment protection initiative of WWF, restoration of heritage sites and donation to NGO's.

The company also announced the Canon 'Excellence Awards' which will aim at identifying and recognizing performers in different categories to celebrate Canon's 10th anniversary and India's 60th year of Independence.

Page(s)   1