Branding Strategy of Kodak

Eastman Kodak Company is known as Kodak. It is an American technology company focused on imaging solutions and services for businesses. Eastman’s first camera, the Detective, was created in 1886. Soon after in 1888, Eastman created a superior model, the Eastman Kodak camera to replace his poorly selling Detective.

Kodak was once a leader and legendary brand in the photographic film industry. It used the catchy slogan “You press the button, we do the rest” to successfully market its digital camera products.

Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s as a result of the decline in sales of photographic film and its slowness in transforming to digital photography. Kodak was under intense pressure to survive in the digital imaging business. Kodak lost 90 percent of it’s market value and is facing the threat of extinction.

Kodak has tried to transform itself from an aged old film technology business into a fast and digital cultured business but has failed as a result of decline in sales in the United States. It is still trying to play catch-up with rivals such as Canon, Sony and HP. Its current products and services span across digital cameras, inkjet printers, sensors, retail kiosks, workflow and business process services and software through to consumer, professional photographic film, paper processing chemicals and industrial materials such as films for printed circuit boards. Its main business segments are Digital Printing & Enterprise and Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Films. Kodak is best known for photographic film products. During most of the 20th century Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film.

Kodak has superior brand recognition as compared to rival brands. Its brand was supported by its massive worldwide distribution presence through retail photography stores, film processors and professional photographers which provided Kodak with the competitive advantage. Kodak leads in the higher-end photo quality camera segment where it launched its major innovations in imaging. Traditionally, Kodak has strengths in photofinishing services and consumables such as paper, ink and chemical technology. This is derived from a rich portfolio of 11,000 patents derived from a strong R&D investment.

CHANGES OF LOGO

Recommendation:

In order for Kodak to sustain a competitive advantage, it needs to strategically transform its entire business model around to capture new and unique growth opportunities. There are several options which Kodak can explore to achieve this strategy. Kodak needs to strategically transform its entire business model around to capture new and unique growth opportunities. It is recommended to improve efficiency and simplify the organization. Kodak should have leadership to communicate and influence vision and change to capture new business models and better match user needs and economic value.

References 

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-10-05/strategy/30246134_1_eastman-kodak-photography-icon-john-larish

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/business/technology-advice-to-help-kodak-compete-in-the-new-world-of-digital-photography.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/acrobat/en/corp/HSE/issuesandchallenges.pdf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/19/kodak-bankruptcy-protection

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/researchDevelopment/whatWeDo/development/designUsability/history.shtml

           Goldmark names Mushfiq as Brand Ambassador

Goldmark Foods Limited, a new biscuit & cookies company of the country, roped in Bangladesh national cricket team’s captain Mushfiqur Rahim as their brand ambassador. The company, who entered its footstep in market just at the beginning of this year, signed a year-long deal with Mushfiqur Rahim at the Westin Hotel on 29^th April 2014. For the next one year, Mushfiqur Rahim will propel the company with his vibrant presence throughout Goldmark’s advertising and brand promotions, bringing his appeal on the field to product billboards and ads, which will bring an interesting touch to the company’s future promotions.

At the beginning of 2014 when Goldmark started their journey in the market, the name “Goldmark” was totally unknown in the market. Despite having so many existing local and international competitors, it wanted to find a fastest way to create a good knowledge and a strong brand image. The target market of Goldmark was very big and it was difficult to be segmented because biscuit is such a kind of product which can be sold to everyone. So it has come up with such a thing which will be able to attract the whole target market. Cricket is arguably the most popular sport in the country and people of all demographics have got a soft corner for cricket in their heart. They wanted to use the power of cricked to promote their brand. In spite of taking a TV celebrity, Goldmark took Bangladesh national cricket team’s captain Mushfiqur Rahim as their brand ambassador. After that Goldmark came up with a number of printed and tv commercial highlighting Mushfiqur Rahim which were quite successful at drawing people’s attention and creating a positive brand image. 

Goldmark preferred Mushfiq as its Brand Ambassador for his excellent leadership skills and well behavior. It thinks “His skills and determination for making positive changes, which is similar with Goldmark’s tagline “Nikhad Swade Sobai Ek”. Again Mushfiqur Rahim represents Bangladesh cricket. And cricket is such a thing which can make all the Bangladeshi people united. When it comes to cricket everyone of our country becomes united forgetting all the hostility.  So Goldmark tried to relate it with the strength of Bangladeshi cricked. Goldmark said with the pure test of Goldmark, everyone will be united. In other word “Nikhad Swade Sobai Ek”.

According to my point of view, it was a brilliant decision taken by Goldmark. Rather than wasting all the money on traditional television commercial and other promotional activity, Goldmark related its name with an admirable personality like Mushfiqur Rahim. This helped Goldmark to create a positive brand awareness which is very necessary for a new brand. A brand ambassador humanizes a product. People like to buy from people. Although organizations traditionally brand themselves through logos and symbols, social media offers an opportunity to do more. Ambassadors are emotionally engaged with a company’s brand promise and they espouse the brand value a company promises to deliver to its customer. Brand ambassadors let you use the viral nature of the Internet deliberately, without having to get lucky. So it was a wise decision to make Mushfiqur Rahim as its brand ambassador.

Reference:
1.http://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_30-04-2014_Mushfiqur-becomes-Goldmark%E2%80%99s-brand-ambassador_840_1_4_1_1.html
2.http://www.bdreports24.com/mushfiq-becomes-goldmarks-brand-ambassador/
3.http://htsyndication.com/htsportal/article/Mushfiq-becomes-Goldmark-s-brand-ambassador/4373021
4.http://www.ranifood.com.bd/Cookies.html
5.http://newagebd.net/7331/goldmark-names-mushfiq-as-brand-ambassador/#sthash.7xXCk9oR.dpbs 6.https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/5-reasons-your-small-business-needs-a-brand-ambassador/
7.https://www.socialhp.com/blog/12-reasons-you-need-brand-ambassadors-now/
8. strategic brand management kevin lane keller 4th edition