Canon’s first Project Imagination film became the only advertising film to shortlist at the Academy Awards. But that was a film created by Ron Howard. So we expanded the project to prove we’re all creative and anyone can sit in the director’s chair by turning Project Imaginat10n into an entire film festival.

To do this, we signed five celebrities from five different disciplines to make their directorial debuts. Then, we invited the masses to shape their films by submitting photographs to ten storytelling themes. But instead of just inspiring the films, we also invited consumers to create their own films.

A robust PR campaign was littered with high-profile media exclusives, guest appearances on shows, behind-the-scenes, and seminars at film schools.

Ultimately, the winning consumer directors will join the celebrity directors, screening their films at the Project Imaginat10n Film Festival. They will premiere at Lincoln Center in New York and then at major theaters across the country.

The project garnered nearly 80,000 photo submissions in only six weeks. In just months, Canon netted $25 million in total PR value and a staggering 1.7 billion PR impressions—numbers that are still climbing.

Post-launch (Sept-Dec), Canon became the dominant leader over Nikon with an average market share of 47% units (41.9% Nikon), 50.5% dollars (40.7% Nikon). Canon saw its best November sales ever, exceeding target projections during peak of the critical holiday shopping season -- top 2-selling DSLRs (units) and top 3 (dollars), 11/25-2/23 -- all without a TV commercial promoting the project.

Lastly, we secured Canon’s ownership of industry-revolutionizing DSLR HD-video among the Hollywood A-list and up-and-coming filmmakers.