Explained: Eastman Kodak Company-JWT-O&M association; birth of the ‘Kodak Moment’

Long-standing relationships between clients and agencies today are unheard of, with Mondelez International and Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) being one of the notable exceptions. But there was a time when the association between brands and agencies was a norm and lasted for decades.

One such example is of Eastman Kodak Company and J.Walter Thompson (JWT) whose professional bond lasted for 66 years beginning in the 1930s. But the year 1997 brought curtains on their relationship. The consumer imaging business, which was worth $40 million, was entrusted to O&M, effective July 1997.

The reason for the change of hands was to experience a ‘new creative approach’ to advertising and improvise on strategic focus. But this is not the first time O&M was getting familiar with the brand. In 1994, the brand handed over the accounts of digital and applied imaging products to the agency. After a span of 10 months, in 1995, the agency won a $50 million corporate branding account of Kodak.

Storyboard18 gives you a detailed account of O&M surpassing the brand's expectations, JWT’s acclaimed Kodak moment campaign and a lot more.

JWT and O&M

In 1987, British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company WPP (Wire, Plastic, Product) acquired JWT Group for $566 million. In 2005, JWT Group rebranded itself as JWT. In 1989, WPP acquired the Ogilvy Group for $864 million. Hence, JWT Group and O&M are sister agencies within the WPP network.

With this change of hands in 1997, the company also entrusted the media buying duties to O&M worth $260 million. Prior to the account movement, in 1996, the joint venture of JWT and O&M, ‘Kodacom’ was established to handle Kodak’s media duties. “Would the duties be carried out?” posed a serious question.

However, in 1997, O&M and JWT Group merged to come up with media buying company Mindshare, and Bob Zach was named as the director of Kodak media group, where he would oversee global media buying and planning for the company.

Kodak KB10 campaign: O&M surpasses expectations

As per sources, Kodak used to spend over $200 million in advertising worldwide. When Storyboard18 contacted former O&M creative director Shankar Nair, he recalled that after a long association with JWT, Kodak was less than enthusiastic about the advertising work created by O&M.

Kodak, which had a solid position in the Indian market, stood out as a market leader where its film rolls sold quickly. But when it came to the advertising front in India, they dabbled less in it. Consumers recognised the brand by its yellow balloons that were visible outside the Kodak studios.

The launch of Kodak KB 10, a 35 mm, point-and-shoot SLR camera was a testing ground for O&M to rise to the brand’s expectations.

The agency was briefed to come up with an advertisement that highlighted how ‘great photographs’ are the result of using Kodak KB10. The conceptualisation and discussions took place under the guidance of Piyush Pandey, who is currently the chairman of global creative Ogilvy Worldwide and executive chairman of Ogilvy India. Ad filmmaker Prasoon Pandey was drafted to shoot the commercial.

The ad film was about a couple who are on their honeymoon, have a camera and want to click a photo of theirs. They see a wedding procession passing by and stop a man in the procession to ask him to click a picture. The camera is so easy to use that he joins them in the frame. Slowly, the whole crowd joins the couple for a photograph.

The commercial tasted critical and commercial acclaim, and KB 10 was sold in millions in the first year of its launch. It changed the whole landscape of the photography market, distanced it from being an expert’s domain and made it available to the average user. Overall, it further improved the relationship between Eastman Kodak Company and O&M.

Birth of the ‘Kodak moment’

One of the key marketing tactics adopted by JWT was building a loyal customer base that would buy into the brand’s core values and its products repeatedly. Hence, the colour ‘yellow’ was used as a key element of the brand which appeared in most of the advertisements.

Throughout their association, JWT Group conceptualised successful campaigns for the brand. One of them is the acclaimed 1993 ‘Kodak Moment’ campaign.

The campaign made the brand a household name but how many know that the ‘Kodak Moment’ was coined in the 1980s?

The era of the 1980s marked the period when film rolls were excessively and easily accessible. This was followed by capturing and preserving moments through photography which soon became a trend.

The American photography company tapped into this trend to promote their camera and film products, and the ‘Kodak moment’ came into the picture. Soon, the phrase tasted popularity worldwide and so did Kodak’s products, which became an integral part of family life.

Eastman Kodak Company: Bankruptcy and re-emergence

By 1996, Kodak was named one of the most valuable brands and was ranked fourth behind Disney, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. However, 2012 marked the year when the photography company filed for bankruptcy protection.

This was attributed to the brand’s failure to gel with the time when digital photography that was gaining prominence. It was Steve Sasson, a Kodak engineer who introduced the first digital camera in 1975, as per a report, Sasson recalled that the first reaction of the management post the introduction was not to inform anybody about the invention.

As per another report, the former Kodak head of market intelligence Vince Barabba recalled that starting from 1981 a research was conducted along with the support of Kodak’s chief executive officer to understand the prominence of digital photography and the adoption of silver halide film.

The research showed that digital photography possessed the potential to replace the brand’s film business. The other aspect of the research highlighted that it would take some time for digital photography to gain widespread prominence, and the brand had a time of a decade to concretely plan its moves and adapt to the changing times.

But the brand did not capitalise on the 10-year period effectively. In 1986, Kodak introduced a megapixel camera. But the brand decided to use digital as support for its film business. This resulted in the introduction of the Advantix preview film in 1996, which allowed one to preview the number of shots taken.

But the camera also emphasised on print and still made use of films. This was mainly attributed to Kodak being in the film, chemical and paper business. As a result, Advantix did not survive long in the market.

In another media report, one of Kodak’s former CEO George Fisher attributed Kodak’s failure to assuming ‘digital photography’ as an enemy that would pull down the shutters to its paper and chemical business, which was the reason behind Kodak’s sales and profits for decades.

A year later, in 2013, the company emerged from bankruptcy and since then continues to provide still film, motion picture film and commercial digital printing products and services.