Avigilon Trumps Axis' Deceptive Ad With A Real One

Axis and Avigilon are reversing roles.

While the IP video pioneer increasingly loosens its ethical standards, Avigilon has responded with a well done, on target, campaign.

Axis Deceptive Commercial

In December, Axis released a deceptive commercial structured to confuse / make people think that they were using their own camera.

Many people, unsurprisingly thought it was from an Axis camera, when it was not:

Outside of a footnote at the very end of the (hidden) YouTube video text description, Axis has done nothing to rectify this.

UPDATE: After publication of this post, Axis removed the commercial and replaced it with one that has a disclosure at the end of the video:

It is good that Axis has done so finally, but disappointing it took them nearly two months, finally motivated by a comparison to a competitor.

UPDATE 2: Axis has released a new video of their own 4K camera at an ice skating risk:

You can download the 4K full video here.

The new one is quite impressive and would have been great if they just did that first.

Avigilon 7K commercial

Now, Avigilon has released a commercial filmed with their 7K camera:

To make it even more clear that it was from their camera, Avigilon filmed an additional behind the scenes video with the photographer:

7K Focus

On the one hand, Avigilon's 7K's practicality is questionable as its quite high relative price (~$10,000 range) makes it tough to economically justify against open competitors (e.g., leading 12MP cameras, like the well tested Panasonic) are a fraction of the price ($2,000 or less) and have the added benefit of being mounted at multiple spots / angles to get the most direct shots).

However, we do see the value in Avigilon strongly marketing their 7K camera. Beyond whatever they sell of the camera itself, it is a signaling effect to many that the company with the highest resolution surveillance camera is the best. Not only does this improve their overall marketing positioning, it lets them lead with a product that none of their competitors have. Even if the customer determines the 7K is impractical, Avigilon has dozens of other high resolution models, at far lower prices, to sell. This is not new, as they used the same successful approach with their classic 29MP PRo cameras for years.

Moreover, focusing on 7K is easier for a mainstream audience to appreciate / start with, compared to the more technical sale of using video analytics. While video analytics is a stronger technical differentiator in fact and has more recently been a focus of Avigilon, it is harder for non-technical buyers to (literally) 'see' that up front.

Showing One's Own Video

The surveillance industry has or should have become mature enough to be confident to do their commercials with their own cameras, certainly from manufacturers who consider themselves top tier, like Axis. Doing so builds more confidence in the image quality / performance of the surveillance cameras being sold.

As for Axis, hopefully they can improve. The past year has been strange, with their quality mocking video game, asking kids about surveillance cameras and their deceptive commercial.