Through one of my many contacts, here's a quote I received via e-mail from a fairly high level executive in Kodak:
Regards, Art.Kodak said:
Regards, Art.Kodak said:I was asked to respond to your inquiry, since I am familiar with the issues you raise and would make a couple of key points.
First Antonio Perez has heard from many people like you who are loyal film photographers -- both consumers and professionals. Kodak continues to offer the widest lineup of films and we continue to invest in the business -- as evidenced by the fact that a number of products carry "new and improved" labels because of our investment. We will continue to respond to the market and that market remains an attractive one, even as we reduce costs and cut back production in the face of the reality of lower demand for our traditional products.
Regarding the statement correctly attributed to Mr. Perez, it obviously has been taken out of context. Today, in fact, Kodak is a heavily digital company, as revenues in these businesses, both consumer and professional, now surpass our traditional photo business. But in many ways, the businesses are also complementary and do work closely together. Mr. Perez was simply reflecting the need to move into businesses that are growing, and we have obviously been successful in doing so.
Again, many thanks for your comments. You can be assured that we all this feedback from consumers very seriously.
Wow, Kodak is subscribing to APUG! Who knew?
That's really good news, thanks a million for posting this, Art.
I don't know how closely they follow APUG, but over on filmshooting.com, which caters to Super-8 and other small gauge cine shooters, they have a representative--John Pytlak--who is active, answers questions, and fields product requests in the way Simon Galley does for Ilford here. Kodak also takes out full page ads in small magazines like _Super-8 Today_. It would be nice if there was someone from the still film side at Kodak who could play a similar role on APUG.
__________________No offense, Art, but I really don't see what that "clarified," except that maybe Kodak execs know how to try to pacify customers who complain. What, for example, does "we [take?] all this feedback from consumers very seriously" mean?
Kodak should be a case study for a marketing communications/public relations class on how not to communicate with all their publics.
Bill
and hostile to Kodak at that.
You guys slay me. Too funny.
Explain to me why the head or any executives of a huge multinational like Kodak should even bother with us? We're 18,000 (max-possible) film users out of tens of millions, maybe less than 1% of all potential film users - and hostile to Kodak at that. So why would they feel welcome here?
Reading all these posts, I certainly could see why they would think APUG is a place for anti-Kodak zealots.
Regards, Art.
I definitely agree with that assessment. Some (outside APUG) might even consider APUG the radical fringe, so why would a company put itself, or one of its' employees, in the line of possible attack?
All fine and good to support Ilford, and I do use lots of HP5+, but last I checked Ilford do not make any colour films. It does often seem that APUG is heavily B/W films biased, but there are fewer colour films companies than B/W films companies. Shouldn't we support continued production of colour films?
There is also the somewhat invisible side of Kodak and Fuji. Both companies place ads in PDN (Photo District News) and a few other publications for their film products. Yes, both have largely abandoned Pop Photo and similar publications, but those more consumer magazines are more biased to computer users with cameras. Another realm many amateurs never see is that both Kodak and Fuji have teams of people visiting pro labs around the US. There have been many times I got samples of films from these reps, and was given product literature with information on new products. This is not traditional advertising, and not geared towards consumers, but it shows that both companies are still marketing their colour films, especially transparency films.
Ciao!
Gordon Moat
Dead Link Removed
I agree with Gordon who agrees with Art.
Sometimes I think folk here actually want Kodak to cease making film just so they can say: "See, I told you so!".
The problem with that is that it is really just cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Sometimes I think folk here actually want Kodak to cease making film just so they can say: "See, I told you so!".
Oh well, perhaps my comments are useless in this venue.
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