[Pål Jensen]

Lack of advertising is in fact a form of advertising. I think it is deliberate. Pentax have managed to get a loyal following based on the "the word of mouth". The brand has become a choice for people who do their homework and know what they want. It is nice to have customers but what customers you have is equally important. The average Pentax customer is likely more loyal and knowledgeable than the customer of other brands that just walk into a camera store and comes out with whatever the salesmen are pushing.

[biz-engineer]

Lack of advertising is in fact a form of advertising. I think it is deliberate.

They probably get paid by Sony for not advertising Pentax.

[RobA_Oz]

They probably get paid by Sony for not advertising Pentax.

Hang on! That’s getting perilously close to a conspiracy theory...

[reh321]

Yeah, possibly, Rob.

I don't think they like this forum, to be honest.

Too much negativity, as Kenspo points out.

Doesn't take a professional photographer to see that.

[clackers]

Doesn't take a professional photographer to see that.

Yeah, I don't know what we can do about it. One of them posts here, he suddenly gets hammered with 'When are you going to release a 24mm prime … doomed!".

[BarryE]

Lack of advertising is in fact a form of advertising. I think it is deliberate. Pentax have managed to get a loyal following based on the "the word of mouth". The brand has become a choice for people who do their homework and know what they want. It is nice to have customers but what customers you have is equally important. The average Pentax customer is likely more loyal and knowledgeable than the customer of other brands that just walk into a camera store and comes out with whatever the salesmen are pushing.

I tend to agree with this. Keeping the prices down and the value up. Feeding us with just enough that their (Ricoh) smaller budget can supply. Making it, perhaps, a little select and alternative. Trying to maintain loyalty with the K mount. It's a bit like a subscription model that many companies have built on - once established, who cares about big advertising spend ...

[troenaas]

I've been a member here since April 2009 - almost 10 years. I can't remember when Pentax wasn't doomed - but it is still here.

[totsmuyco]

I'm just 4 years with Pentax and since I got here it has been doomed. So far, I'm sailing smoothly despite being doomed. But who cares? We're doomed any way.

[krre23]

haha too funny! Pentax forevah! =)

[troenaas]

Lack of advertising is in fact a form of advertising. I think it is deliberate. Pentax have managed to get a loyal following based on the "the word of mouth". The brand has become a choice for people who do their homework and know what they want. It is nice to have customers but what customers you have is equally important. The average Pentax customer is likely more loyal and knowledgeable than the customer of other brands that just walk into a camera store and comes out with whatever the salesmen are pushing.

I do not agree with that statement. In order to get a loyal following, potential customers have to be informed about the products one way or the other. If there are no advertising or marketing, there will be no demand. With no demand, stores will not carry the products. One of the larger photography shops in Norway - foto.no - recently stopped selling Pentax, because nobody is asking for Pentax at their store.

[pete-tarmigan]

I've been hearing that Pentax is doomed since the 1980s.

[SSGGeezer]

I do not agree with that statement. In order to get a loyal following, potential customers have to be informed about the products one way or the other. If there are no advertising or marketing, there will be no demand. With no demand, stores will not carry the products. One of the larger photography shops in Norway - foto.no - recently stopped selling Pentax, because nobody is asking for Pentax at their store.

That is partially their own fault for not informing their customers about the cost/benefits involved in choosing Pentax if you are not already invested in a competing system. I suspect that since Pentax does not floor their merchandise, it is just easier to drop them instead of paying for inventory that is sitting in the storeroom.

[kooks]

One of the larger photography shops in Norway - foto.no - recently stopped selling Pentax, because nobody is asking for Pentax at their store.

Actually same thing is happening with a store here in CR that had Pentax products, they are stoping to show their products at the store because there is no demand, so they are just selling Canikon, the other big store sells Sony & Canon, and another guys sell Nikon.. but just this store had Pentax in their inventory. It is to sad that happening because of the lack of marketing/knowladge in general and because of this the brand is getting out of the shelves.

That is partially their own fault for not informing their customers about the cost/benefits involved in choosing Pentax if you are not already invested in a competing system.

I dont see how come is the stores fault for the marketing of a brand, let's not forget that they are a business, and they go where they can make profit, if a product is not selling and the manufacture is doing nothing to reverse this well, there is not other option to simple stop selling this items phisically and relay on the online sells. But why a store have to inform the cost/benefits of a brand or "persuade" a client if they make the same or maybe more profit selling another product?

[sbh]

That is partially their own fault for not informing their customers about the cost/benefits involved in choosing Pentax if you are not already invested in a competing system. I suspect that since Pentax does not floor their merchandise, it is just easier to drop them instead of paying for inventory that is sitting in the storeroom.

Yup, communication is key. What I noticed that not only in the general public but also in one of Tony's videos where he talks about mirrorless systems. His opinion on Pentax was that they just gave up, they are not doing anything and they will just go away. Usually this guy does at least a basic research on things, but this time he either didn't or the info about Pentax was too hard to find.
What I know is that Pentax made an explicit decision to not enter the current mirrorless competition (for now), they focus on dslr and there on the top quality imaging section. From last Photokina I got the info that Pentax is aiming for the top-end, implying the market segment around Phase One rather than low-end mass market. I don't see anything wrong with that from a business perspective. (If I may go overboard and spin the thought that they could take over Hasselblad and DJI and go for the areal imaging market, being then a direct competitor to Phase One.)

[SSGGeezer]

Actually same thing is happening with a store here in CR that had Pentax products, they are stoping to show their products at the store because there is no demand, so they are just selling Canikon, the other big store sells Sony & Canon, and another guys sell Nikon.. but just this store had Pentax in their inventory. It is to sad that happening because of the lack of marketing/knowladge in general and because of this the brand is getting out of the shelves.



I dont see how come is the stores fault for the marketing of a brand, let's not forget that they are a business, and they go where they can make profit, if a product is not selling and the manufacture is doing nothing to reverse this well, there is not other option to simple stop selling this items phisically and relay on the online sells. But why a store have to inform the cost/benefits of a brand or "persuade" a client if they make the same or maybe more profit selling another product?

When I took a sales job, once or twice in my distant past, I was told that to be a salesman, you had to sell what you had in stock and get rid of it! The reason for brick and mortar stores is to provide expertise in a specific field and that was the reason to pay those prices rather than shopping at a discount store. Allowing your expertise and subject matter authority to be given to idiots on you tube and to the reviews written by uninformed buyers on Amazon is a failure of the retailer on many levels. You see the two large remaining B and M sellers here in the US use social media but have people at their stores to answer questions also.