Cameron Fleming is a strategist who used to be a copywriter.

Nikon. I am Generation Image.

Inspiring a generation that speaks through its images

The world creates 27,905 images every single second. This generation expresses itself in images — yet it has never been harder to be heard. What if Nikon were to give seven people with something to say a better camera to say it with? Could a Nikon help them make a difference? That was the experiment at the heart of the “I am Generation Image” campaign.

ACD/Copywriter
Cameron Fleming
ACD/Art Director
Calvin Lyte
Creative Directors
Larry Platt and Tom Sullivan
Chief Creative Officer
Rob Reilly
Agency
McCann New York

“Stream”

We launched the campaign with a film that dramatizes the reality of life in Generation Image: the constant visual onslaught we’re all exposed to every day.

ACD/Copywriter
Cameron Fleming
ACD/Art Director
Calvin Lyte
Creative Directors
Larry Platt and Tom Sullivan
Chief Creative Officer
Rob Reilly
Agency
McCann New York
Directors
Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro

The journey

Then we sent one Nikon camera across the country to help seven people with something to say be heard. They each had two weeks with the camera to make a difference with their images. We hired a talented but unknown young filmmaker to tell the stories of how they each used imagery to make their marks. Naturally, he, too, used a Nikon camera.

ACD/Copywriter
Cameron Fleming
ACD/Art Director
Calvin Lyte
Creative Directors
Larry Platt and Tom Sullivan
Chief Creative Officer
Rob Reilly
Agency
McCann New York
Director
Douglas Gautraud
Big Bird
Kordale & Kaleb

When an Instagram photo of these dads doing their daughters’ hair went viral, it changed their lives. Nikon gave them the chance to tell the rest of their family’s story.

Girls With Brown Hair

It’s not easy to make it in comedy; Sam Reece and Becky Chicoine should know. But if the right video is seen by the right person at the right time, it could change everything.

Mary Mattern

This vegan chef and food blogger wants her photographs to make you hungry — and hopefully to encourage you to try cooking something new in the kitchen. Vegan donuts, anyone?

Rikki Mendias

He grew up in a shelter. Now this sneakerhead is on a mission to give new or gently used shoes to everyone in need. His images help donors walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes.

Darren Jeffries

Cyclists in New York City have a serious image problem. This photographer wants to show that cyclists can be responsible, and that they can live in harmony with pedestrians and motorists.

Tiny House Family

When their home went into foreclosure, Hari and Karl Berzins began to build a new life — and a new home — completely debt-free. Their pictures reveal their lives in 168 square feet.

Douglas Gautraud

Because our director was himself a leading member of Generation Image, we asked him to tell his own story. His film wrapped up the first phase of the I AM Generation Image campaign.

Screenshot of iamgenerationimage.com

Microsite

The galleries and profile films lived on a fully responsive campaign site that tracked the camera’s journey across the country. Images from the participants were also shared through Nikon’s social channels.

Copywriter
Jason Tisdale
Designer
Hang Zheng
ACD/Copywriters
Cameron Fleming and Tony Jones
ACD/Art Directors
Calvin Lyte and Shawn Kelly
Creative Directors
Larry Platt and Tom Sullivan
Agency
McCann New York and MRM//McCann New York

Rich media

For each person featured in the campaign, we created a rich unit to drive traffic to the site. These units were shown on sites targeted to the featured photographer’s interest; for example, vegan chef Mary Mattern’s banner was shown on Food & Wine and other cooking sites.

Designer
Don Miller
ACD/Copywriter
Cameron Fleming
ACD/Art Director
Calvin Lyte
Creative Directors
Larry Platt and Tom Sullivan
Agency
McCann New York

Press

The campaign picked up more than 614,000,000 impressions in earned media, gaining coverage by the New York Times, PSFK, Good Morning America, TIME, Fast Company, Cosmopolitan, Slate, USA Today, the Huffington Post, and even Perez Hilton. Within the industry, it was covered by Adweek and Campaign, and it was an Editor's Pick on Creativity and SHOOT Magazine.

Logos of media outlets that covered this campaign

“Dads” case study

Of all the stories in the campaign, one proved to be particularly poignant — the story of two fathers, Kordale and Kaleb, raising three children together in suburban Atlanta.

Finalist, 2015 New York Festivals.

“I am Next” contest

From the very beginning of the campaign, people wanted to get involved in it. And they wanted to win that sweet yellow case for themselves. So we launched the “I am Next” contest to find the next representative of Generation Image. We received more than 14,000 entries from passionate photographers, artists, and activists.

The winner

By popular vote, the winner was Daniel Newman, an aspiring photographer whose brother suffered debilitating concussions playing lacrosse in high school. Daniel used his platform to raise awareness of the risks of traumatic brain injuries in sports.

Extensions

Generation Image isn’t just about young hipster millennials. It encompasses everyone with something to say — including families who don’t need top-of-the-line DSLRs.

“Homefront” :30

We found the story of a Centers for Disease Control epidemiologist who must sometimes travel to faraway outbreaks at a moment’s notice and stay for weeks or months at a time. Her husband keeps her connected to her young children thanks to his Nikon D3300 and a wireless connection.

ACD/Copywriter
Cameron Fleming
CD/Art Director
Catherine Abbenda
Creative Directors
Larry Platt
Agency
McCann New York
Director
Douglas Gautraud
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