Company: Eastman Kodak Company
Agency: Ketchum Public Relations
Timeframe: 2005
Budget: $4.4 million
Precedence means very little when it comes to predicting future business success. Just take the Eastman Kodak Company. An industry leader for more than a century, the
photography powerhouse started losing steam with the advent of digital photography, and the media did not fail to take notice. Headlines such as "Kodak Fades in Race to Go
Digital" and "Kodak Must Change Before Digital Passes it By" challenged the quaking brand's once-impenetrable position in the marketplace, leaving its communications team with the
monumental task of redefining an image on the brink of being left in its competitors' dust.
It turns out, Kodak's communications team, with the help of agency Ketchum Public Relations, was a force to be reckoned with. The 2003 announcement that the company would
refocus its business model on accelerated growth of digital products and services was followed by a Cross Category Brand Equity survey in 2004 to understand its positioning across
categories and competitors, and then in 2005 by an aggressive global campaign centered around the Kodak EasyShare-One (ESO), the first-ever wireless digital camera.
The campaign, out to reinstate Kodak as an innovator, would face scrutiny from a digerati community already well versed in digital camera technology. Kodak's wireless product
- originally slated to hit shelves in June 2005 - first would have to run the gamut of pre-launch publicity, from trade shows to media events to special advertising promotions, to
whet consumers' appetites. But, instead of rushing to push the new product into the marketplace, the communications teams conducted in-depth research and analysis to understand
Kodak's weaknesses - among them, not being viewed as an innovator - and then set goals accordingly.
"The first step was to target the initiative - and then execute," says Erin Foster, Kodak's director of worldwide PR, digital and film imaging systems.
And target they did, albeit on a global scale. With Ketchum's help, Kodak executives initiated the campaign with strategy #1: organize and execute two-way dialogue with
influencers of brand perception. But, true to its mission of reestablishing Kodak's brand as innovative, the campaign managers took the road less traveled, rolling out the ESO at
unexpected venues that would still attract the attention of key audiences. For example, Kodak's then-CEO Daniel Carp made an appearance with pop cultural king Sean "P. Diddy"
Combs onstage at the Cellular Telephone Industry Association's annual trade show, creating a buzz in the wireless technology community.
The campaign continued previewing the new product in an array of international locations and events: the Cannes Film Festival, the Oscars (where celebrities like Scarlett
Johansson and Halle Berry were set loose with the cameras and the new EasyShare printer dock) and T-Mobile hotspots, including select Starbucks locations. But, as Kodak and
Ketchum prepared for the June release of the product to consumers, a glitch in the system threatened to derail the momentum that was building around the rebranding initiative:
Development delays meant the camera wouldn't be ready until October, by which point competitor Nikon had developed its own wireless camera. Kodak risked losing the buzz it
created around the innovation just as it was about to take off. Thus, the team had to find a way to readjust its strategy in midair.
"The hardest piece was encouraging people that it was doable," says Roy Edmondson, SVP, global account director at Ketchum. The team redirected the release campaign to
capitalize on the impending holiday season with the "Owning the Holidays" theme, partnering with celebrity stylist David Tutera to demonstrate innovate ways to incorporate
picture-taking and printing with holiday parties and gift-giving.
Then came the ultimate coup: the Kodak One galleries. Timed to coincide with the camera's release into the marketplace - and the holiday shopping season - the team rented out
hip spaces in New York and San Francisco in which to host a month-long gallery event that brought the Kodak brand to life. Throughout the month, the venues - which were decked
out with flat-panel displays, mobile phones, online and in-store shopping terminals and images from Kodak's advertising campaigns - hosted consumers and media representatives at
events ranging from music-listening parties to press events.
But, once again, challenges were quick to present themselves. "Everyone wanted the One Gallery to be too many things at once," Foster says. "We had to stay focused on its
purpose: one product, one experience, one month." And then there was the issue of measuring results; how could the team judge success or failure?
"We established very specific, measurable metrics," Foster says. "It's essential to set very measurable goals with identifiable metrics." For the One Gallery, the metric was
simple: How many people could be attracted to the One Gallery over the course of a month? The answer, it turns out, is a lot. The number of visitors was triple the goal, and of
them, more than 80 percent felt that Kodak is bringing years of picture expertise into today's digital world. Plus, the team got kudos from Kodak executives, one of whom said it
was the most integrated effort he had ever seen. The One Galleries alone incorporated a number of Kodak's business units, from digital to online, and sales reflected that
accordingly.
"You have to think about integration," Edmondson says. "Everyone should have a piece in it. That's what brings the whole story together."
Thanks to the highly integrated, focused effort, the campaign surpassed every goal. It captured the largest worldwide media/editorial share of voice in 2005 with 25 percent,
beating competitors Canon and Nikon. Kodak also reestablished itself as an innovator; 34 percent of stories featured innovation messaging. Plus, the company's U.S. market share
strengthened from 21 percent to 25 percent, and digital sales represented 54 percent of the overall revenue - the first time in the company's history that digital revenue
surpassed traditional. And it was all born out of one idea: Kodak is an innovator.
"Big ideas can be simple, so make them simple," Edmondson says. "Start with the end in mind. The debate should be 'how to get it done,' not 'is it possible?'
Contact:
Erin Foster, 585.781.9539, [email protected]; Roy Edmondson, 646.935.4066, [email protected]
Past Corporate Rebranding Strategies to Emulate
You know you got it right when your company's name becomes a verb.
Though it had been known as Federal Express Corporation since its founding in 1971, the company officially adopted "FedEx" as its moniker in one of the most successful
rebranding campaigns of the century.
The reason for the name change was simple: Federal Express had long been abbreviated to FedEx by employees and customers - it was just a matter of making the change official
and ensuring that brand equity was maintained in the increasingly competitive marketplace.
The strategy: Underscore the brand's commitment to reliability and customer service with a new tagline to accompany the change: "The World On Time." FedEx delivery vehicles
became moving billboards, with the name emblazoned in bold letters. An advertising campaign identifying the new name was rolled out, stating "Isn't that what you called us
anyway?"
The result: FedEx's brand integrity continued to thrive. Case in point: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary added the word "FedEx" as a verb in its 2006 edition.