Be Interesting

Read the campaign story

Contemporary reporting identifies Pentax’s Be Interesting positioning in November 2008 and credits RPA. The website-led campaign encouraged an independent photographic outlook rather than relying only on camera specifications. The platform and its introductory executions are counted together. The reporting supports the campaign’s introduction, not a measured change in audience behaviour.

The account describes intended appeal and the brand’s research rationale, but it does not provide independently assessed preference or sales outcomes. Encouraging curiosity is not proof that a camera produces originality. This case examines how a creative invitation can offer an accessible point of entry while avoiding pressure to perform an identity, impress strangers or mistake equipment ownership for an interesting point of view.

Editorial interpretation: an open invitation can give the audience more room than a narrowly prescribed demonstration. Its strength is also its weakness: people may appreciate the sentiment without understanding why the brand is relevant. The team needs a clear connection between curiosity, the activity being encouraged and the limited role of the tool. Otherwise the campaign risks becoming interchangeable motivational language that almost any category could claim.

Editorial interpretation: asking someone to be interesting can sound liberating or judgemental. The difference depends on whether the communication celebrates attentive looking or demands social distinction. A useful adaptation makes the invitation manageable and allows ordinary observations to count. It should not imply that people who prefer familiar subjects are less creative or that the brand can confer a more valuable identity through purchase.

Turn a broad invitation into a small action

Describe an accessible first step that illustrates the idea without becoming a prescribed artistic result. The action should be understandable to someone with little experience and should not require spending money. In a paper test, ask what a person would do after reading the invitation. If the answers are vague or dominated by performance anxiety, make the prompt more concrete and less evaluative.

Check whether independence has become a stereotype

A campaign can claim to celebrate individuality while presenting only one approved look or attitude. Include fictional examples with different levels of confidence, interests and styles. Ask reviewers which people appear welcome. If the creative direction implies that only a fashionable or rebellious personality belongs, revise the frame so that curiosity remains an activity rather than a narrow social identity.

Make the brand’s role modest and specific

Explain how the offer supports an activity without claiming to supply the person’s ideas. Compare the invitation with a plain category explanation to see whether the brand connection survives. Ask what the product cannot do. The strongest version lets people understand both the emotional proposition and its practical boundary, instead of using an aspirational identity to bypass ordinary questions about suitability and value.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: write a fictional sketchbook invitation asking adults to notice one overlooked shape in an invented illustration, with an optional plain explanation of the notebook’s role.

Measure clarity of the suggested action, perceived welcome and understanding of the tool’s limited contribution. Compare an identity-led headline with an activity-led version using the same original illustration. Ask whether either sounds judgemental or implies a purchase is required to be creative. Retain the invitation only if it encourages manageable curiosity while preserving the audience’s freedom to prefer a different subject or decline altogether.

Stop if the invitation creates social pressure, narrows acceptable identities or promises originality through product ownership.

• Use invented illustrations and fictional stationery.
• Offer an obvious decline option.
• Collect no photographs or personal identity information.