ch can be misread.Kodak carefully chose the words “it’s time to smile” as the tagline for its new year-long, fully integrated marketing campaign. At the heart of the campaign is the company’s commitment to strengthening and deepening relationships through sharing images. The campaign began with social media activities supported by public relations in summer 2009 and will blossom into a dedicated advertising push starting October 31, 2009.
The campaign is based on extensive research. Recognizing that relationships are struggling, Kodak commissioned the “Future of Reconnectivity” report to analyze how U.S. and European populations assess their relationships and the role that digital imaging plays in facilitating deeper bonds. Across five countries, the study found a common desire for people to reconnect with loved ones in the face of numerous barriers that prohibit individuals from reaching out to others. The study also found that digital photography and the sharing of personal images is helping to bridge this divide as 93% of respondents indicated that sharing photos make them feel closer to friends and family by serving as reminders of past enjoyable moments shared with one another.
“The Kodak brand has always been about human connections and capturing and sharing important moments,” said Leslie Dance, Vice President, Worldwide Brand Marketing at Kodak. “‘It’s Time to Smile’ represents our commitment to helping our consumers strengthen their relationships and make it easier than ever to share moments and memories with family and friends.”
The multi-faceted campaign was developed to reach consumers through both online and offline engagement, as well as a television-advertising launch, bringing “It’s Time to Smile” to life by focusing on the relationships and moments that define our lives. These 15- and 30-second spots will run through the holiday season. They have developed three new social media applications consisting of the:
Kodak Konga Line: A Facebook application allows users to create community photo albums surrounding an event or theme. Invite friends to share their images and watch the Konga line grow.
Kodak Smile Meter: Also a Facebook application. It invites users to send custom smile messages to brighten a friends’ day. The application maintains a running message total—the Smile Meter.
Kodak Smile Maker: A new free iPhone application. It allows users to paste unique smiles over existing photos, which they can then share with family and friends.
To support its relationship platform and help consumers reconnect, Kodak identified the existing cultural trend of “BrightSiding” (creating moments that bring people together and make them smile), as well as existing “BrightSiders” who were already practicing the trend. In July 2009 Kodak teamed with the “Compliment Guys,” two Pur
due University students who had built a following by sharing free compliments and generally brightening the days of fellow students. The Compliment Guys spread the Kodak “It’s Time to Smile” message by bringing smiles and free compliments to 10 cities along the east coast. The Kodak BrightSide Tour was supported with a dedicated blog (BrightSideTour.com), as well as traditional and social media engagement.Sounds nice? Well here is what is wrong with the campaign: The campaign is focused on the front end of this smile-sharing thing, rather than the back end. “It’s time to smile” to me is another way of saying “say cheese”. It talks to and is about the photo shoot. Despite the social media apps being about sending a smile to someone, the fact that they are smile-centric, relates to the smiling that one does during a photo shoot, rather than the closeness one feels upon receiving a photo of a beloved one. The problem with that is that Kodak’s relevance in the photo industry is no longer at the photo shoot. That went out with digital cameras. The notion of a “Kodak Moment” lasted only as long as rolls of film were being used and changed during photo sessions. Today with digital cameras, the only things that have relevance at photo shoots are photo equipment and possibly props. Despite Kodak’s efforts to remain in the digital camera business, they will never be recognized as a camera authority. With the exception of disposable cameras, Kodak no longer owns any piece of the photo shooting experience. Therefore, the association between a smile and Kodak no longer exists in people’s minds. The “Kodak moment” is history.
The odd thing here is that the research Kodak conducted and its conclusions have nothing to do with the photo shoot, either. The research concluded that “sharing photos make people feel closer to friends and family, by serving as reminders of past enjoyable moments shared with one another.” Does that sound like “it’s time to smile”? No, it's about printing photo’s and making photo albums to give to loved ones. Consider this, When you pose for hundreds of pictures as you go about your vacation or whatever else you’re capturing on camera, you’re not smiling at the friend or relative. You are simply capturing good times for posterity. It’s in the days after, when life returns to normal that you may contemplate becoming closer to a friend or relative by sharing the photo’s with them. Indeed, the research does not suggest anywhere that it is necessarily a smiling pose that you will consider sending, to build or improve relationships. The key words in the research are simply “sharing” and “reminder”. Sharing a photo replaces a detached present with closeness and is achieved through a reminder of a precious moment that occurred in the past. Sharing photos is what Kodak’s theme should have been. It’s what the research indicates as a sellable moment and it’s where the Kodak brand can shine. Kodak photo processing and Kodak paper are recognized as the best in the industry. Viewing a crisp, clear, vivid picture of beloved people and precious moments, facilitated by Kodak processing and printing, can connect someone to those moments and people.
The first ad of the “It’s time to smile” campaign entitled, “Little moments,” features a personalized Kodak Gallery album with photos chronicling precious moments of a young person, being flipped through. Interestingly, there is not a single photo of someone posing with a smile for the camera. Maybe the creative’s at Ogilvy, understood the foolishness of focusing this campaign on a smile and redirected it to the back end of photo taking; sending friends and family a printed picture or album. That is the area where Kodak really can really stand for something meaningful.
