[JohnBee]

I usually try to stay out of the doom and gloom topics but this one really hit home:



Maybe this can be explained somehow. But if it is what it looks like, then I for one one find it very upsetting that a legacy such as Pentax, would be subject to such a thing.
I deserves far better than this imo.

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Last edited by JohnBee; 01-16-2014 at 09:54 PM.

[SpecialK]

What direction is that?

[Adam]

Pentax has had a bunch of companies attached to its name over the years: asahi, honeywell, etc. We should be happy that Ricoh has decided to keep the brand name pure (at least for now!).

[RobA_Oz]

I don't have a problem with the parent company putting their name on the product or on promotional displays like this, but I think the lack of the name "Pentax" anywhere prominent on that stand is a pretty poor judgment on someone's part. Even if the Ricoh name is given prominence, they aren't promoting Ricoh cameras in that display, even if there are Ricoh models somewhere out of view - the main thrust of the display is Pentax product, and so the name "Pentax" should be somewhere on the display, too. That opinion has nothing to do with brand loyalty, and everything to do with marketing.

Confusion or indifference is the inevitable result of pushing the parent name instead of the product.

[6BQ5]

I think this all is purposeful. Ricoh wants the world to know that they exist and are here to play. I think we'll see the prominence of the Ricoh brand dim down a bit in the near future and the Pentax brand name will get its turn in the spotlight soon.

[altopiet]

"Don't worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy"........

"Que Sera, Sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be".......

[Roob-N-Boots]

I think this all is purposeful. Ricoh wants the world to know that they exist and are here to play. I think we'll see the prominence of the Ricoh brand dim down a bit in the near future and the Pentax brand name will get its turn in the spotlight soon.

I was thinking the same thing. As if they want everybody to know that this is a new and improved Pentax, a new era if you will.

[Clavius]

I usually try to stay out of the doom and gloom topics but this one really hit home:



Maybe this can be explained somehow. But if it is what it looks like, then I for one one find it very upsetting that a legacy such as Pentax, would be subject to such a thing.
I deserves far better than this imo.

I don't see anything here what we didn't already know or didn't see coming. Look and see what happened to each and every other brand name Ricoh ever took over. Keeping the name for a few years is often a result of takeover-negotiations. But afterwards all bets are off.

What would be so bad about a Ricoh K-1* anyway? It might even help discard all the negativity tied to the Pentax name?

[RobA_Oz]

I don't see anything here what we didn't already know or didn't see coming. Look and see what happened to each and every other brand name Ricoh ever took over. Keeping the name for a few years is often a result of takeover-negotiations. But afterwards all bets are off.

What would be so bad about a Ricoh K-1* anyway? It might even help discard all the negativity tied to the Pentax name?

Well, whoever is undertaking their marketing strategy is above our pay rate, but Ricoh's previous takeovers have been in the commercial sector, where the product purchasers have been corporations, often in bulk, and where decisions are made on the basis of tenders. Brandings mean little in such an environment, other than to assure purchasers of continuity.

The majority of camera purchases are nothing like that. Unlike some of the people who tread these Forum halls, many buyers (even younger ones, I find) have a healthy respect for the Pentax brand and its heritage. Throwing that away in pursuit of a branding strategy that has succeeded in a quite different sales environment is, in my view and the words of Sir Humphrey Appleby, "courageous".

[Rondec]

Pentax is a brand name for Ricoh. Whether they want to market it as "Pentax by Ricoh," or whatever, doesn't matter to me. The beautiful thing to me is that they folded their own digital camera business into Pentax (not the other way around) and have turned out some nice cameras so far that feel very much in line with the Pentax heritage.

I have some sense of nostalgia for the Pentax name, but I am certainly not fixed on a brand.

[Clavius]

The beautiful thing to me is that they folded their own digital camera business into Pentax (not the other way around)

You really need to explain this one. Pentax was bought by Ricoh. Firstly the ex-Pentax companies were renamed "Ricoh Pentax Imaging", and later just "Ricoh Imaging". "Pentax" was degraded to a mere product line instead of a brandname. How does that contitute Ricoh folding into Pentax?!?

I have some sense of nostalgia for the Pentax name, but I am certainly not fixed on a brand.

And if you had been fixed on the brand, then you would have been cured by now. Fixing people to your brand is such a has-been marketing strategy anyway. They don't need that.

[mrNewt]

Guys, you have to realize this soon... Pentax is just a product line... a product line that is OWNED by Ricoh...
Yes it might be sad, but this is the reality and this is the only thing that keeps our Pentax going... whatever is left from it.

So, like it or not, all you Pentaxians are slowly jumping ships... you are jumping on the Ricoh ship.
You might as well enjoy the ride and the opportunities is going to bring.

That booth looks normal to me. Any big corporation would of done the same.

[condor27596]

Can you explain better that fixing people to your brand is has-been?

I'm fairly loyal to the brands I find and like.

But I'm a technical person with no ideas of what marketing people do.

[ChristianRock]

If they keep the K-mount and make good cameras for it, I don't care if it's called a Bozo.

Besides, the name Ricoh right now is hip, thanks mostly to the GR. Ricoh is a name loved by street photographers and hipsters alike. Whenever I say Pentax, on the other hand, people think of outdated technology - a company that was so huge during the film era, everybody has or knows someone that still has a Pentax laying around in their house somewhere. I'm generalizing, of course, but that's part of it - general perception.

There is however a good conotation, I think, to the Pentax name: a maker of very fine lenses. So even if in the future Ricoh decides to call all their cameras Ricoh, they'd be smart to maintain their premium lenses under the Pentax name.

Finally, I'm very glad that Ricoh is keeping the K mount alive. Pentax could have easily died a few years ago when Hoya was reportedly considering just shutting down the entire business. We (who have Pentax cameras and lenses) are very lucky that Ricoh took over, other than them I don't think there would be anyone else interested in building on the Pentax legacy. In other words - if it wasn't for Ricoh, Pentax would be gone forever like Yashica. I for one am very grateful.

[Nesster]

It would be interesting to see what Minoltonians felt when their brand became Sony... or Konicanuks when their camera disappeared into the Minolta-Konica maw.