[lesmore49]

Sounds to me that they are going to emphasize phone applications, online , social media to get the message across...rather than old style print media. Many large corporations are going this way to get their message across.

My kids who are in their 20's....rely heavily on their smartphones to check out news, get a wide variety of product information, etc.

They don't read print newspapers/ magazines.....or as a result...check out advertising in old fashioned print media. I still do...but then I'm a baby boomer and way behind modern methods of accessing information.

I used to work in the publishing field and I can tell you the print/TV / radio industry does not appear to have much of a future if the younger generation continues to ignore them.

I would say Ricoh-Pentax seems to be pursuing the right way...social media accessed through smart phone and online....to get the youth market. The youth market is the most important market to cater to...if a company is to have a future.

[Heie]

Hmm...I guess that means they didn't get my application for the job then

In all seriousness, I know of several qualified people right here that should at the very least be offered consultation to that position. And I guarantee they would blow away most of the people working there right now, especially including this guy, in terms of their Pentax knowledge and expertise.

Hopefully this guy comes across PF and starts tapping into the deep well of resources and expertise here.

Also, I agree with lesmore - social media is the way to go. I'm an outlier among my friends because I read the news. Not papers (not a fan and also can't get American ones in Germany), but at least 2-3 times a day I venture over to news websites and try to stay current. I'm entirely out of the norm for my generation in that regard: we don't read, we don't care, and we want it in the shortest time possible. Our attention span is cripplingly short. But we spend all of our time on YouTube and Facebook, so if you are going to try to target us - that's where to do it. Another avenue would be commercials for online TV websites, i.e. Hulu.

-Heie

[Fontan]

PENTAX - Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation Expands Team with Appointment of Brian McIntosh as Director of Marketing

Looks like they want to focus on online presence and communications with user community. If executed well, this change could be very good for Pentax in the U.S.

I can guess from my previous observations that they will not execute well. I just don't think they know what that means.

[Asahiflex]

This is Brian McIntosh (taken from the same press release found at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb10984644.htm):

Always nice to see the face behind the name!

---

Last edited by Asahiflex; 08-15-2013 at 12:33 AM.

[lukulele]

University of Phoenix, Kaplan, Art Institutes, 80% of Michigan's charter schools, and much of the charter school movement nationwide(good or bad)is owned or franchised by for profits. Even in our small county, three for profit charters have sprung up recently.

[monochrome]

University of Phoenix, Kaplan, Art Institutes, 80% of Michigan's charter schools, and much of the charter school movement nationwide(good or bad)is owned or franchised by for profits. Even in our small county, three for profit charters have sprung up recently.

Ahem - I believe those are all private enterprises. U of Phoenix is a publicly-traded company. Kaplan is, I believe, owned by the Graham family who just sold the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Charter schools contract with a government entity to provide educational services in competition with the state. None of these is a public entity driven by a profit motive.

Parochial (religious) schools are owned by a tax-exempt church; private, non-sectarian schools are not-for-profit entities. Public enterprises such as public schools are owned by a government.

As such, they are not driven by a profit motive.

[Docrwm]

Ahem - I believe those are all private enterprises. U of Phoenix is a publicly-traded company. Kaplan is, I believe, owned by the Graham family who just sold the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Charter schools contract with a government entity to provide educational services in competition with the state. None of these is a public entity driven by a profit motive.

Parochial (religious) schools are owned by a tax-exempt church; private, non-sectarian schools are not-for-profit entities. Public enterprises such as public schools are owned by a government.

As such, they are not driven by a profit motive.

You beat me to it. I consult regularly to schools, and public schools do NOT think like free-market companies in any way, shape, or form. Here in Georgia the current administrators are dealing with shrinking budgets for the first time since Carter was President and it's amazing to watch the rookie mistakes being made by 30+ year "veteran" administrators that wouldn't be made by an Asst. Manager at WalMart in dealing with their budget issues. I even had one public school administrator tell me that they had "built enough profit into the contract" - I asked him to define how profit was determined and he sputtered and couldn't name anything other than staff costs.

Think about Pentax marketing in the US this way - there is nowhere to go but up. So, this new guy can do 1 thing right and he'll be WAY ahead of the current manager for marketing at Pentax US.

[konraDarnok]

Charter schools contract with a government entity to provide educational services in competition with the state. None of these is a public entity driven by a profit motive.

I'm not sure why this is even being discussed, but many charter schools are managed by for profit entities.

public schools do NOT think like free-market companies in any way, shape, or form.

Nor should they. Their #1 job should be educating students, not making money. Profit can have some perverse incentives. Like selling an education people want to buy rather than what they need. Jesus rode dinosaurs and Pi is exactly 3? We'll teach that for 19.95. And if you act now, we'll throw in a free membership to the Flat Earth Society. No thank you. America is getting a little dumber everyday and it's not going to get better with subsiding degree mills to the detriment of public education.

[interested_observer]

If you take a look at McIntosh's LinkedIn page, he started at Pentax 3 months ago. It also appears that he is local, so he should just start driving into a different driveway and parking lot - i.e., no need for a lot of time to transfer from a different geographical location. It appears that Pentax has timed this announcement for some reason, to occur right at this point (there appears to be some thoughtful planning here - which indicates some reasoning). Given that they waited - they could have not waited, or waited longer - so, I'll take this as something is afoot. McIntosh immediately upon accepting the position, went out and updated his "marketing" page - as Linkedln measures the time auto-magically for each position. He should have had adequate time to digest the product line, current market environment, the current approach (or lack of one), and should have started (and be currently well underway) on forming a plan for going forward. He also brings knowledge of the consumer electronic products and not from selling soap or sugar water. He comes from a consulting background, so he should be quick on the uptake. I am taking this announcement from Pentax to signal that a change has been made and things should start to happen. Ok, strapped in and buckled up - light the candle.....

As far as Carlson - he is listed as senior manager, and McIntosh comes in as director. Hopefully, adult supervision has arrived.

What should we expect (in no particular order)....

• What ever products are to be announced, the "slick sheets" should be relatively error free. If I remember from the K5, that was not the case.
• We should start seeing some sort of new web, social media presence - start to creep in here.
• We should start to see more integration of message and product branding start to form.
• We should start to see hopefully, a more imaginative Pentax message be generated here.
• We should start to see some organization and structure in message from Pentax.
• I would hate to see a sudden "big bang" of change. I would hope to see small changes start to come from Pentax in terms of laying a constructive foundation.
• I would like to see some "order" to the current "chaos".
• I would hope to see some thoughtfulness in terms of delivery from each of the changes. Each one be integrated in/to some degree with the others, to start to form a cohesive thoughtful marketing / branding operation. Hopefully, the current "wandering through the wilderness", or "staggering down the street from light pole to light pole", is coming to an end.

I am just an "old" engineer, not in anyway a marketing type. I eagerly await to see what ever they have "cook up".

[lukulele]

You beat me to it. I consult regularly to schools, and public schools do NOT think like free-market companies in any way, shape, or form. Here in Georgia the current administrators are dealing with shrinking budgets for the first time since Carter was President and it's amazing to watch the rookie mistakes being made by 30+ year "veteran" administrators that wouldn't be made by an Asst. Manager at WalMart in dealing with their budget issues. I even had one public school administrator tell me that they had "built enough profit into the contract" - I asked him to define how profit was determined and he sputtered and couldn't name anything other than staff costs.

Think about Pentax marketing in the US this way - there is nowhere to go but up. So, this new guy can do 1 thing right and he'll be WAY ahead of the current manager for marketing at Pentax US.

Doc and Mono,
Your anecdote of administrative incompetence rings very true in my experience as well. I've never seen a superintendent in our district want the same or less from taxpayers or PTSAs. The amount of waste (repairable furniture in the dumpster as an example) in our district is nearly criminal. In NC the charters, if state approved, are funded by public allotment (and any other supplemental sources) that parents or the vendor so determines. So is it public or for profit? Finally, if Pentax can get any color Q7 to my out to my middle school crowd via social media they will have succeeded............these kids have some intense disposable income across the socioeconomic spectrum. Monochrome, it will be interesting to see what the plan will be and whether your positive vibe has been visionary.

[Docrwm]

Doc and Mono,
Your anecdote of administrative incompetence rings very true in my experience as well. I've never seen a superintendent in our district want the same or less from taxpayers or PTSAs. The amount of waste (repairable furniture in the dumpster as an example) in our district is nearly criminal. In NC the charters, if state approved, are funded by public allotment (and any other supplemental sources) that parents or the vendor so determines. So is it public or for profit? Finally, if Pentax can get any color Q7 to my out to my middle school crowd via social media they will have succeeded............these kids have some intense disposable income across the socioeconomic spectrum. Monochrome, it will be interesting to see what the plan will be and whether your positive vibe has been visionary.

Agreed. Please don't get me started on the waste in Georgia on computer tech (it's funded through the lottery so school staff see the funds as coming out of someone else's budget and spend accordingly - meaning like drunken sailors).

If they can make Pentax hip, as it appears they have done in Japan, then it will definitely sell much better. Most of the kids that have seen my Q have wanted to hold it, none have ever asked to hold the K-5 or K-5IIs. That ought to tell folks something.

[andre-mz5]

I love the self-written self-descriptions of those in the business community. Most people would blush to write such things about themselves. Ah well, I hope he can actually help with Pentax's marketing in a positive way. I know what I'd tell him he ought to do first, but then I bet some here could guess.

A marketing manager should at least be able to market himself, so hopefully he will be able to put Pentax brand back in the camera market .

[interested_observer]

I know that this a little off topic, but I ran across this 60 Minutes story about a little eyeglass frame manufacturer in Switzerland. The company evolved over time, took advantages of niches in the market, their "vision" evolved over time also.

• Sticker shock: Why are glasses so expensive? - 60 Minutes - CBS News

[monochrome]

The following isn't really germane to the thread, but it is interesting in the cultural context sense.

I was once an alumnus-trustee of a very good male single-gender non-sectarian private school (now you know something about me you might have only suspected before) that had just the prior year.merged with a very good female single-gender non-sectarian private school. Both were at the time 135 years old. Tuition was about $14,000.

I sat on the curriculum committee and on the governance committee, which was tasked with drafting the new Mission Statement. We asked for submissions from Faculty, Administrators, a group of alumni/ae and Board members.

The word "teach" did not appear in any of them, so parents were spending 50% of the then 65th percentile household annual income to send a child to a private school that did not think it's Mission included teaching its students.

If a venerated, expensive private school didn't think teaching was important I shudder to think what drives a public school.

[RobA_Oz]

I'm an outlier among my friends because I read the news. Not papers (not a fan and also can't get American ones in Germany), but at least 2-3 times a day I venture over to news websites and try to stay current. I'm entirely out of the norm for my generation in that regard: we don't read, we don't care, and we want it in the shortest time possible. Our attention span is cripplingly short.

I suspect that's because your personal history has made you untypically aware of the impact that complex and long time-scale events can have on the lives of people who think they're exempt from such things, or who are just too damned lazy to bother thinking at all. However, I don't think there's that much difference between generations when it comes to marketing – in previous times, if you wanted to get your message through to the mass of men, you advertised in the sports pages; for women, in the fashion pages. Now, it's in social media. Only the medium has changed. The attention span issue is more of a problem, but it'll sort itself out over time, as more new arrivals from poorer countries start to get all the good jobs, and the penny starts to drop with the dillentante hipsters that they have to pay attention to keep ahead of the breadline.

In the meantime, I doubt the Facebook/Twitter/etc adultescents are a substantial market for serious cameras, but the emerging immigrant middle-class probably are.