Kodak Teams Up Digital, Traditional in New Spots

Ogilvy introduces products in 'Share moments' updateHoping a little humor can help boost torpid sales, Kodak is bridging the gap between the cutting-edge and comfortably familiar with a $40 million effort that updates its 2-year-old "Share moments. Share life" campaign.The work, which broke last week via Ogilvy & Mather in New York, introduces Kodak products and services that combine digital and conventional attributes to consumers who might be daunted by new photographic technologies."A lot of people think there's not a lot of news regarding the traditional products or that everything is digital," said Glenn Patcha, client vp for U.S. marketing. "These spots show why the truth is completely different. There's a lot of innovation regarding cameras and processing."In "Eyebrow," the first of three 30-second spots, viewers are encouraged to "Share payback." A young man sleeps on a couch as his snickering roommate shaves off the sleeper's right eyebrow with a razor. Eyebrow guy is next seen at a party with his girlfriend, where snapshots showing him asleep hang all over the room. As he winces, his roommate, now sporting a reverse Mohawk that was created by shaving his head extensively down the middle, offers his hand and asks, "Truce?" The spot features the Kodak EasyShare Camera and Printer Dock."Vacation," which breaks this week, shows a woman organizing vacation photos on a PC. Her husband walks in with a pint of ice cream and registers his surprise. "But we don't have a digital camera!" he exclaims. His wife points to the Kodak Plus Digital "one-time use" camera. "You mean to tell me we got digital pictures from that little plastic camera?" he asks.The spot ends with the wife playfully threatening to e-mail a particularly silly pose of her husband to his brother, and he offers to do anything to get her to cancel her plan—until she reaches for his ice cream.Another spot, "Bubble Boy/ Chance," which touts Kodak Perfect Touch processing, is set at a kids' party. It shows how an image can be lightened or darkened, illustrated by a photo of a boy blowing a bubble that can turn from pink to dark red."Clearly, consumers are using photography in new ways, from picture-taking itself to ease-of-use and the ability to e-mail photos, to the technical innovations in processing," said Michael Wilson, worldwide creative director at Ogilvy.Kodak, the world's largest photography company, posted sales of $2.74 billion in the first quarter, up 1 percent from the comparable period in 2002. Profits dropped 69 percent in the first quarter from 2002, and in statements to investors, Kodak warned that profits will likely tumble in the second quarter and remain depressed for the rest of the year unless the economy improves.Previous ads featured people reminiscing over old photos, among other vignettes.Kodak spends about $200 million annually on ads, according to CMR.

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Kodak Teams Up Digital, Traditional in New Spots

David Kaplan

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