By Martin Vedris

SYDNEY, NSW: Despite aggressive promotion of the Global Financial Crisis by the media, it failed to take hold in Australia. Our dollar is up in value, the housing and share markets are strong and consumers have reportedly been buying Canon cameras in record numbers.

Canon Australia was proud to announce what it called “an unprecedented 11 consecutive months of record breaking year-on-year sales” for the period January to September 2009, inclusive.

“In spite of a tough economic climate and general fears of constricted consumer spending, Australians did not reign in their purchasing when it came to digital compact cameras and digital SLRs,” said Canon Australia managing director, Kenji Kobayashi.

“Over the last 12 months, Canon has continued its solid investment in the digital still camera category both from a brand and a consumer engagement level. Consequently, we have been able to sustain our lead in the market with significant gains this year.”

Canon Australia quoted GfK data in claiming that its sales value in the digital compact camera and digital SLR categories grew by 5 per cent and 67 per cent, respectively, compared to the same period in 2008. The source data is GfK Retail and Technology Australia, Digital Still Camera – Compact/SLR, Retail Sales Value, January to August 2009 vs January to August 2008.

“This is a very strong result and testament to the relevance of our brand and our products,” said Canon Australia, assistant general manager – Consumer Imaging, David Goldman. “Capturing and sharing great quality digital photos has become an important social communication tool and sales figures over the last year highlight the significance of these devices in the daily lives of Australians.”

Canon Australia declared that its three digital camera brands — EOS, IXUS and PowerShot — achieved growing sales and increasing market share.

“Our marketing strategy focuses on developing long-term and engaging relationships with consumers and their trust in our brand is illustrated by the growth in market share we have experienced,” said Goldman.

One example of this marketing approach Canon outlined is the World of EOS online campaign that was launched in May this year and has already attracted nearly 2.5 million page views with the average time spent on the site being 6.24 minutes — according to Canon this nearly twice the industry average.

“Many companies are gearing up for the forecasted resurgence in consumer spending — given our strong results over the past 12 months, we are well positioned as we approach this period of relative prosperity,” said Goldman.