The Eastman Kodak Company known as Kodak is an American technology company that produces camera related products. It was funded by George Eastman and Henry A. Strong in 1888.
“You press the button, we do the rest.”
-George Eastman
By the 1950s Kodak was a dominant company in the film market. At its peak moment, it captured 90% of the US film market according to Forbes. Taking pictures with your film cameras, and preserve significant occasions such as family events and holidays were labelled “Kodak moment”. Unfortunately, after 100 years in the late 1990s, digital cameras started to take off, the giant started to struggle financially. In 2012, the company filed for protection bankruptcy. In 2013, the company sold most of its intellectual patents to companies like Google Facebook to emerge their bankruptcy.
The famous slogan still works perfectly today, then how did Kodak fail exactly?
Assumption 1: Digital cameras were just a subsidiary of film cameras.
Kodak’s funder was very passionate about film photography. He thought that consumers value hard prints for memories which digital cameras would never replace film cameras.
It is obvious that Kodak was product focused and self-design focused. In fact, Kodak invented the first self-contained digital camera in 1975, but they kept quiet about it. The company was blinded by its success with its lucrative film market, it was reluctant to adapt to digital products. The company should have focused more of its consumers’ needs with the changing market.
Assumption 2: Women were the primary customers.
“Kodak girl”, fashionable, young, vibrant and independent women taking pictures. That was George Eastman’s target consumers of Kodak cameras. Kodak’s marketing campaigns were mostly targeted at women consumers. When digital cameras started to merge on the market, they were seen as “tech devices”, it attracted many men consumers as well.
Nowadays, “Kodak moments” are used as a failure example to teach. Changes are not scary, the failure of adapting is what fails a company.
