12 years ago, Kodak was warned on what to do to avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing

12 years ago, sometime in september, 2000 a powerpoint presentation was sent to the chief marketing officer of eastman kodak. the above was one of the first few slides in that presentation.

the slide talks about the fast changing competitive environment that kodak was in. at that time, the internet and digital photography was just starting to grow rapidly and in effect changing the way people share pictures. the engulfing change was altering consumer habits in dramatic ways that was making kodak irrelevant and not even one of the choices consumers had on their list. consumers were still taking pictures, with stand alone digital cameras and digital cameras in cellphones. they were taking more pictures than ever but they were no longer having them printed  to be stored or shared with others. the digital pictures either stayed in their cell phones or shared digitally through the internet or from one gadget to the other. that means kodak was quickly being taken out of the picture taking habit.

it was a quickie presentation - not based on any business data or consumer research but just observations in the market and the author's own personal experience. the idea was to have a start point discussion of the marketing challenges that kodak faced then and how with more work, consumer research and analysis of business data need to be done from which the strategies and thinking contained in the presentation were to be changed, adapted or implemented by kodak.

read more about it here and take a view of the complete powerpoint presentation. - http://wawam.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/12-years-ago-kodak-was-warned-of-chapter-11-bankruptcy-risk/

Tough Times Strategy: Introduce New Products

we are starting a new series where we will publish interesting articles we have picked up from the internet on marketing and avertising strategies during tough economic times. here is the first of the collection:

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A Strategy When Times Are Tough: ‘It’s New!’

THEY say money is the mother’s milk of politics. In marketing, it is new products, meant to pique the interest of consumers and thereby stimulate demand at stores, restaurants and dealer showrooms.

In tough times, it would seem the flow of new products would be slowed by companies fearing that shoppers have too much on their minds to consider still another cereal, soap or soup.

But as the recession grinds on, Madison Avenue is serving up a steady stream of new packaged foods, cars, drugs (prescription and otherwise), menu items (for both sit-down and fast-food restaurants) and beverages ( alcoholic and otherwise).

The new product pitches are coming from all manner of marketers, from global behemoths — among them Campbell Soup, General Mills, Mars and Unilever — to family-owned companies like Sargento Foods.

One reason to stay the course on new products is that they can offer marketers new reasons to reach out to consumers when the impulse may be to pull back.

“There’s a saying: ‘When times are good, advertise. When times are tough, advertise more,’ ” said Dan Beem, president at Cold Stone Creamery in Scottsdale, Ariz., the ice-cream chain owned by the Kahala Corporation. “We want to stay with that philosophy.”

read in full: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/business/media/25adco.html?_r=1