We invited six photographers to a portrait session. Each guest was told a different backstory about the person whose image they were about to capture (a commercial fisherman, a self-made millionaire, a recovering alcoholic, a man who's saved a life, an ex-inmate, or a self-proclaimed psychic).

The twist? None of those backstories were true. Nevertheless the images that were taken differ greatly in both style and context, eliciting a different emotion and characterization of the subject. This proved that how you approach your subject affects the story you tell and that a photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what is in front of it.

Implementation

We recruited six photographers from our enthusiast audience and invited them to a portrait photography session. Each photographer was introduced to the same subject, but was told a different backstory about the subject. The photographers each captured a different image of the subject. The true nature of the subject’s stories was not revealed until after all photographers had reviewed their work.

Their experience was filmed and used as the basis for a content video, which was then shared with the wider public.

Timeline

The video was launched on YouTube on November 3, 2015.

Placement

Paid editorial support was provided on Lost at E Minor, an Australian creative and culture blog, between 5th November – 15th November 2015, garnering 6,560 views. The video was also supported on Canon Australia’s YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter account.

DECOY became Canon Australia’s most successful online video to date, reaching in excess of 7.8 million views, with 21,200+ online mentions, and 17,000+ comments and engagements on social channels.

Average view time was 2:29 (video length: 3:17).

92% of views were embedded on external domains, a clear indication of its appeal to a broader creative audience as it was embedded on 3,000+ editorial sites and blogs.

DECOY appeared on news sites including the Daily Mail, Buzzfeed and Mashable; articles on photography sites including Shutterbug, PetaPixel, and MyModernMet; and in publications from Japan, France, Russia, Italy, and Brazil, showing that the content has universal appeal and reached a global audience – all achieved with minimal spend, with only 4% of views being the result of paid media.

DECOY shifted Canon’s role from a product manufacturer to a creative instigator, sparking debate and ultimately championing a more thought-provoking approach to photography.