Kodak--A Revolutionary?!
On February 6, 2007, Kodak announced its first-ever line of Kodak Easy Share all-in-one printers for the home inkjet printer market. The press release Kodak published is titled "Kodak Revolutionizes the Inkjet Industry" Are you thinking--what is revolutionary about these printers compared to all other inkjet printers on the market? Let's look at the marketing mix or 4Ps of Marketing.
Product--Three all-in-one printer models with pigment based replacement cartridges:1 black cartridge and 1 integrated color cartridge. According to Kodak's CEO Antonio Perez, "Kodak is selling the BEST ink at half price, connected to a printer that produce the BEST images and with a convenience and ease of use that's unprecedented in the industry."
Price--$9.99 for a black ink cartridge and $14.99 for the color cartridge(MSRP). Kodak's strategy is to compete with lower priced inkjet replacement cartridges and competitively priced printers vs. the
traditional model-low priced printers and higher priced replacement cartridges.
Promotion--As part of its marketing campaign, Kodak held a launch event for analysts and the media on February 6, 2007 at NBC Studios in New York City. Since I work for Kodak, I had the chance to view the live web cast. This event had a fun format-a combination of a talk show and Saturday Night Live. Guests included: Kodak's CEO Antonio Perez, former Saturday Night Live actress Molly Shannon, the band The Nerds, and the Vice President of Best Buy. Also, Kodak introduced a web site called inkisit.com to provide consumers an entertaining look at issues surrounding traditionally high-cost ink.
Place (Distribution)--Exclusive retail distribution rights for Best Buy starting in March. On-line purchase at the Kodak.com Store starting in April.
The inkjet printer announcement was covered by many media channels. BusinessWeek.com highlighted the article "Kodak Launches a Printer Offensive" as a top new story on February 6, 2007. Read the article to find out what CEO Antonio Perez reveals.
As an owner and user of several inkjet printer brands, I know how painful it is to shell out that money for those expensive inkjet cartridges. Next time I'm looking to replace my printer or even cartridges, I'll include the Kodak EasyShare printers in my purchase consideration set. I'll check out how Kodak revolutionizes my total cost of ownership!
Kodak confuses me. Just when I think they're getting their act together - they announce that they're laying off more people. And, then they come out with this kind of exciting news. I'm really hoping that the Kodak of old can resurface. Ah, I do remember the days ... and, as a Rochesterian, I still harbor big hopes for Kodak.
It's good to hear things from the inside.
Posted by: Yvonne DiVita | February 12, 2007 at 12:40 PM
It's an interesting move by Kodak. The technology sounds compelling. On the flipside, they are jumping into a highly competitive space. So it'll be interesting to see how they do. I'm cheering for them and I'll take a close look at it. It'll be a good challenge for their marketing department.
I think Kodak is doing some things very well. The problem is some of the markets aren't high growth and/or are very competitive. Locally, the manufacturing isn't here, so the jobs numbers won't ever be as hefty. It's tough to beat Kodak's kiosks/Kodak Image Gallery for photo printing, though.
Posted by: Brett Daly | March 05, 2007 at 04:30 PM