Pentax attacked in TV ad

Falcons · 05-10-2009, 03:20 AM

In Australia there is an Optometry chain called Specsavers and they advertise the fact that they use Pentax Lenses.

Another optomery chain has launched a very negative TV ad campaign against Specsavers and their relationship with Pentax - they highlight the Pentax Brand visually using the Pentax Logo and state " Pentax was in financial difficulty last year and was sold off" (In a deep male voice full of contempt )

The crux of the ad is that Pentax went broke Specsavers are just selling obsolete stock they picked up cheap- don't buy from them they wont be around long (My interpretation any way)

I hope Pentax Australia is going to do something about this as it may have an impact on new sales of Pentax products (in particular Cameras)

*xhanatos* · 05-10-2009, 03:44 AM

I've seen the specsavers commercial.. but not the other ad. Is it OPSM?

Caat · 05-10-2009, 03:46 AM

Originally Posted by Falcons

In Australia there is an Optometry chain called Specsavers and they advertise the fact that they use Pentax Lenses.

Another optomery chain has launched a very negative TV ad campaign against Specsavers and their relationship with Pentax - they highlight the Pentax Brand visually using the Pentax Logo and state " Pentax was in financial difficulty last year and was sold off" (In a deep male voice full of contempt )

The crux of the ad is that Pentax went broke Specsavers are just selling obsolete stock they picked up cheap- don't buy from them they wont be around long (My interpretation any way)

I hope Pentax Australia is going to do something about this as it may have an impact on new sales of Pentax products (in particular Cameras)

Ironically the fact that Pentax was bought by Hoya - the largest opitical manufactuer in the word - actually puts them in a stronger position for the their glasses lenses I would imagine. Hopefully specsavers can defend itself by pointing this out.

I hate negative advertising. Its the last refuge of a company that knows it can't compete so it decides to get nasty.

sir_bazz · 05-10-2009, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by Falcons

I hope Pentax Australia is going to do something about this as it may have an impact on new sales of Pentax products (in particular Cameras)

There is no Pentax Australia is there ?

bazz.

ions · 05-10-2009, 03:51 AM

Originally Posted by sir_bazz

There is no Pentax Australia is there ?

bazz.

Pentax Australia | Home

*David* · 05-10-2009, 04:10 AM

Originally Posted by ions

Pentax Australia | Home

The web page is there but the latest news is 30 Jan 09! Looks like nobodies home.

David

Kenn100D · 05-10-2009, 04:13 AM

Last time even Lufthansa Technik Philippines and SIA was said to be unreliable MRO due to one of their B747 had problems somewhere. (Technically Asians). Well the fact we didn't repair any Boeing aircraft of theirs instead we repaired A330's. Some media.

*Ash* · 05-10-2009, 05:29 AM

This doesn't look like the kind of company that will go bust...
http://www.pentaxmedical.com/

ManuH · 05-10-2009, 05:42 AM

Originally Posted by Caat

Ironically the fact that Pentax was bought by Hoya

AFAIK they were not bought by Hoya, they merged with Hoya. Not the same thing even if Hoya is the bigger company.

stevebrot · 05-10-2009, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by ManuH

AFAIK they were not bought by Hoya, they merged with Hoya. Not the same thing even if Hoya is the bigger company.

Most buyouts are characterized as mergers. It sounds better that way.

Steve

*Jonson PL* · 05-10-2009, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by Caat

Ironically the fact that Pentax was bought by Hoya - the largest opitical manufactuer in the word - actually puts them in a stronger position for the their glasses lenses I would imagine. Hopefully specsavers can defend itself by pointing this out.

I hate negative advertising. Its the last refuge of a company that knows it can't compete so it decides to get nasty.

Good point

noblepa · 05-10-2009, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by ManuH

AFAIK they were not bought by Hoya, they merged with Hoya. Not the same thing even if Hoya is the bigger company.

I don't remember the exact dates, but Hoya made a public offer to buy outstanding stock in Pentax Corporation. They successfully purchased controlling interest in the company. I'm not sure exactly what percentage they ended up buying, but it was a lot more than fifty percent.

There was a period of time, during which Pentax Corporation continued to exist, but just about all of the stock was owned by Hoya. The two corporations were, at that point, seperate legal entities.

Just before the K20D was released, Hoya merged the Pentax Corporation into Hoya corporation. At that point, the Pentax Corp. ceased to exist, but for maybe six months, it had existed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hoya. Since Hoya owned almost all of the stock in Pentax Corp., they had no choice in the matter. At that point, Hoya exchanged Hoya stock for Pentax stock. Any remaining holdouts, who had not sold their Pentax shares to Hoya, were involuntarily transformed into Hoya shareholders.

I remember that it was before the K20D because, when the K20D came out, there were many complaints that Hoya had broken some third-party software by changing the PEF format. I believe that Apple's iPhoto was the most prominent software thus affected. It turns out that Hoya/Pentax hadn't changed the PEF format, at all. They had merely updated the manufacturer name in the EXIF data to reflect simply "Pentax", while the predecessor K10D's EXIF shows Pentax Corporation, which no longer existed. Apparently, iPhoto used the EXIF data to identify the raw file format.

Today, Pentax is only a brand name owned by Hoya, and a division within the Hoya Corporation.

At the time, some thought that the merger spelled the death knell for Pentax cameras. I felt, and still feel, that, if Hoya had merely wanted the medical imaging business and not the camera business, it would have been easier for them to sell Pentax by keeping it as a seperate corporation. In that case, selling Pentax would only have required a simple stock transfer. As it is now, extracting Pentax from Hoya would be much more difficult.

As I recall, Pentax Corporation management was cool to the idea of being bought/merged with Hoya or anyone else. One of their largest stockholders, however, was pushing for it, so Hoya was able to stage a more-or-less hostile takeover. IIRC, a couple of top-level Pentax execs quit in protest.

sir_bazz · 05-10-2009, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by ions

Pentax Australia | Home

And the contact page goes to CRKennedy who are the sole distributor for Pentax down under.

No Pentax Australia listed at ASIC either.

bazz.

nakey · 05-10-2009, 09:30 PM

Originally Posted by xhanatos

I've seen the specsavers commercial.. but not the other ad. Is it OPSM?

yeah. what's the other commercial? I also liked the older ad

*actually went to specsavers to get new glasses cause it's cheap, not because my glasses now match my glass

*

Originally Posted by sir_bazz

There is no Pentax Australia is there ?

bazz.

does CRK do any medical and optical apart from cameras?

Originally Posted by ions

Pentax Australia | Home

that's CR Kennedy.

ManuH · 05-11-2009, 07:11 AM

Originally Posted by noblepa

I don't remember the exact dates, but Hoya made a public offer to buy outstanding stock in Pentax Corporation. They successfully purchased controlling interest in the company. I'm not sure exactly what percentage they ended up buying, but it was a lot more than fifty percent.

I understand all that but it's not like Pentax filled for bankrupcy and was then bought by Hoya. And Pentax still keeps its name, something Minolta lost. And what happened is certainly very different from "Pentax was in financial difficulty last year and was sold off". It was a take over and something as you noted that Pentax resisted.