AP

The company has set up brand showrooms in Gurgaon and Bangalore

Riding on a good half year, Canon India is now gearing up for some serious investments. It has decided to pump Rs 100 crore into its marketing initiatives in 2008, including new advertisement campaigns and launch of product lounges in addition to retail expansion.
Canon will have two new ad campaigns starting in September. One will be a promotional one, while the other will feature cricketer Sachin Tendulkar promoting the Powershot camera range, said Alok Bharadwaj, senior vice-president, Canon India.
Bharadwaj said the festival season is when camera sales are the highest and added that the company is now looking to sign a Bollywood star as brand ambassador for its lifestyle digital camera range.
Canon has set up brand showrooms called Canon Image and Business Solutions Lounges in Gurgaon and Bangalore, with the next one coming up in Mumbai in October. These lounges, each involving an investment of Rs 2 crore, have a new concept where customers can touch, feel and try the various products from the Canon stable.
“We are also looking to expand retail presence through tie-ups with large format retail chains and dealers across India,” said Bharadwaj. At present, the company has 13 partners in the large-chain category and more than 4,000 dealers.
With good traction in its three product areas — cameras, information technology (IT) peripherals (printers), and copier and document management — Canon has posted a 34 per cent growth year-over-year for the first half of 2008 with revenues of Rs 320 crore.