For the launch of its new ad campaign featuring Canadian singer Avril Lavigne, Canon Canada transformed a ballroom inside the Metropolitan Hotel Monday in an attempt to recreate the pink and white set featured in the company's new television spots for its Rebel and Elph cameras. Canon called on the Taylor Group to stage the event. The company laid white carpet, installed a truss system to support the pink lighting, constructed a step-and-repeat backdrop on the stage, and showcased oversize images taken this past summer at Lavigne's Toronto show.
"The inspiration was to try and create a little bit of the white world featured in the television commercial," said Justin Lam, Canon's director of marketing. "The big images you saw all around the room were to simulate the images you saw in the commercial. We're trying to create for the press the same feel we had in the virtual world."
Lavigne, who met one-on-one with 10 fans (selected by High Road Communications) following the press conference, told reporters that shooting the Canon campaign was similar to filming a music video. "I thought it was the perfect fit because I've always really loved Canon cameras," Lavigne said, distinctly on-message. Although Canon has featured spots with tennis stars like Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova in the past, Lam said the partnership with Lavigne "is the first of it's kind from a pop culture perspective."
