Originally posted by MyTZuS Personally, I think that Pentax has a huge opportunity in America if it would be innovative like it used to be... meaning with the K1000 back in the day. Affordable, solid, great pics w/o the gimmicks.
Instead of chasing pros, put together a group of everyday people following their passions (or helping them follow their passions :-) and do a web diary of their journeys. These days you don't need expensive TV adverts since everyone is already on the web. They (the everyday people) could do workshops around the country, visit photo groups, demo at art schools, and more.
Biggest selling points, to me at least, is that its a camera thats much more affordable & is as good as its competition on a sunny day. When it rains, it blows them away.
I loved my K1000 and appreciated the superior build as compared to its price point comparisons, it was everything that I needed at the time and was incredibly reliable, surviving a car crash that destroyed the lens that was mounted on it. However, the second part of the statement no longer holds as today's Pentax DSLRs in fact have all of the gimmicks (save for pro video), their value just isn't promoted commercially.
In my experience in my circle of friends, those that have Pentax cameras are thrilled with them and those who have the Canikon consumer cameras aren't, in fact I am frequently asked to "fix" them to make them produce the images that they expect (they aren't broken and produce fine images if you know how to use them and can hold them steady enough, but realization never matches expectation). So why do they keep buying? Easy, they see pros use them and of course see the advertisements. A marketing appeal to be different seems like a good idea but I have never seen it actually work in any market for any product. The masses want to conform and be like those whom they admire and wish to emulate. Sponsoring pros is a great idea, the higher the profile, the better. But you also have to buy advertising - I believe that I saw a Pentax camera on a TV show last night, I recognized the strap but the network blurred the logo because they aren't advertisers.