• by Larissa Faw , November 30, 2015

This spring, Canon Europe acquired Lifecake, a photo-sharing app that targets parents of young kids. Now, Canon is teaming with Razorfish, part of the Publicis.Sapient platform to increase its user base and raise awareness for this "time travel for parents" app. 

The two-pronged brand awareness campaign encourages direct engagement with Lifecake, underpinned with media, social, editorial and blogger relations to generate organic and paid for exposure of the app, boosting credibility, awareness and referral to download, say Razorfish executives.

The initiative targets parents with children under five and their extended family networks. 

The campaign centers around an online film titled "Me and my bear" that features nostalgic reflections of the childhood toy and the confidence and support that the stuffed animals have offered to kids for generations. 

Directed by Michelle Craig and produced by Unit9, the film launches via social channels in the UK, and will roll out across France, Germany, Italy and Spain.  It can be seen here. 

The complementary social media component invites users to upload a photo of them and their own special childhood toy, via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with a note on why this toy is special. Entries must include the hashtag #MeAndMyBear and the @Lifecake handle.  

After posting their messages, entrants need to engage their own social media network to ‘like’ their selfie to be entered to win prizes. One winner with the most votes will receive the top prize of a family holiday, while five runners-up receive prizes including Canon products. 

"Canon is an example of an organization transforming its business offering to adapt to the evolving needs of its customer," stated William Lidstone, global chief marketing officer, Razorfish. The agency, he noted, has helped the client define its “transformative digital strategy and roll out the integrated brand response and awareness campaign." 

Razorfish was appointed to Canon’s digital roster early 2015 and started working on digital and creative duties for Lifecake in April.