[kevinWE]

I reckon your niece would be unhappy if the prices of Pentaxes doubled in order to pay for the advertising attempt to go from two percent to four percent of the market, Kevin. She might as well stop listening to her uncle and buy a Canon or Nikon instead!

I think actually numbers would need to be seen before making such a broad and bold statement. Pentax would only need a couple bodies in sight and maybe a kit lens or two for their brand to be seen. But as I stated, I'm not a marketing expert but what I do know to be fact is the marketing of the Pentax brand is sub-par if not non existent.

She might as well stop listening to her uncle and buy a Canon or Nikon instead!

Are you stating that if Pentax prices become more like Nikon or Canon that Pentax would no longer be worth buying? From your statement one would assume (from your point of view) that Pentax just wouldn't be good a good value, so skip over it and buy Nikon and Canon. :-)

There is an old marketing adage - "If you want to make money, you need to spend money".

Before this rabbit hole gets any deeper, I'll kindly bow out. I never cared much for speculation.

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Last edited by kevinWE; 07-16-2019 at 03:38 AM.

[clackers]

I think actually numbers would need to be seen before making such a broad and bold statement. Pentax would only need a couple bodies in sight and maybe a kit lens or two for their brand to be seen. But as I stated, I'm not a marketing expert but what I do know to be fact is the marketing of the Pentax brand is sub-par if not non existent.

But Ricoh executives *do* have the numbers, Kevin, that you and I don't. Their decisions about which way to go are always based on research, they could never get their superiors to sign off on anything without models and evidence.

We might like to think ourselves as knowing more than they do - that CCTV of their boardroom table would show it to be occupied by The Three Stooges. But a modern corporation is entirely driven by quantitative analysis.


A 30 second SuperBowl ad costs $5 million. In less than a minute, Ricoh North America would probably be finished as an entity - the whole global corporation, premises, IP, stock, was worth $124 million when bought from Hoya. And there's no proof that people munching their hotdogs or swilling their Bud Lites would do anything but shrug their shoulders.


Here in Australia a couple of years ago, Olympus ran a big campaign that included signs in bus shelters, etc, but as far as I can tell they just blew that money, it's had no impact on their losses, in fact probably accelerated them.

Are you stating that if Pentax prices become more like Nikon or Canon that Pentax would no longer be worth buying?

Yeah, I would say if the price of some Pentax version of the D500 was greater than Nikon's, ordinary consumers not already committed by lens ownership should just buy the D500.

There are some specific advantages to the Pentax brand that favour shooters such as myself, but fair's fair, others can definitely say that of Nikon, too.

[Serkevan]

Most mainstream videogames spend more money on marketing than on development itself. Unsurprisingly, they are always the expensive ones.

I agree with Clackers: marketing budget would have to be recouped. And that means at least some price increase, which depending on their prediction for extra sales due to marketing could be small or large.

[clackers]

As for Pentax: perhaps selling the brand heritage as a sort of "working man's Leica" in the enthusiast market would make more sense than trying to compete in the dwindling mass consumer market?

Yes, Dave, the bean counters may have reached that conclusion!

[beachgardener]

Spotted a Japanese couple at a cafe in a nearby town this morning, the woman has a K70, I said hello and mentioned Pentax, we were all full of smiles
I had my K-3 with me.

[totsmuyco]

I'm here at Dole, France. I can't believe it, I met a ks2 in the wild. I was pointing to the Pentax label of my camera like informing her that we're both Pentax users. I think she found me weird. I don't think she's one of the Jedi Pentaxians. .

[Kerebron]

You should have reported theft. I bet she stole it. I'm 100% almost maybe certain. :P

[totsmuyco]

Here at Besancon. Spied a silver KP with a 16-85 in the wild. At least there are more Pentax users I can find. But I don't he's a Jedi Pentaxian.

[totsmuyco]

Currently here at Lourdes. Saw a 645 but not sure if it was a D or a Z. At least I saw one every place I visit here in France, except for Paris ��

[normhead]

Back in the 60s and 70s days apparently with the Ontario Ministry of Lands and Forests (now the Ministry of Natural Resources) Spotmatics were used.

[monochrome]

Aha, Skoda's owned by Volkswagon.
Fuji Heavy Industries owns both Toyota and Subaru, hence some of their technology sharing.

Fuji Heavy Industries changed its corporate name and symbol to Subaru Corporation in May, 2016. Toyota bought 8.7% of the company from GM (which owned 20.1%) and the balance of GM’s shares were sold on the open market. Toyota is an independent company, not owned by Subaru Corporation.

Toyota and Subaru share a Subaru factory in Lafayette, IN, where Subaru makes the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 they jointly developed. Toyota Motor Corporation shares trade in the US as an ADR under the symbol TM and Toyota is the #2 automaker in the world. VW is #1, Nissan Renault #2 and GM #4.

[Arjay Bee]

Toyota is the #2 automaker in the world. VW is #1, Nissan Renault #2 and GM #4.

Who's on third?

[monochrome]

Who's on third?

2018 sales. Slightly different rankings

Top Ten Biggest Car Companies in the World - Tharawat Magazine

[totsmuyco]

I was in Dijon yesterday and there were only 2 Pentax cameras and they were all mine. I'm here Arc et Senans. Still no other Pentax cameras except mine. But the most unexpected thing that I saw was an old Olympus Evolt camera. I think it was an E-510 or 520.

Edit:
I stand corrected. While sitting by the entrance pillars resting before going to the train station, a guy and a lady came in. The guy had a k-3 with an 18-55. Good to see Pentax cameras other than mine.

[NomNamNom]

Fuji Heavy Industries changed its corporate name and symbol to Subaru Corporation in May, 2016. Toyota bought 8.7% of the company from GM (which owned 20.1%) and the balance of GM’s shares were sold on the open market. Toyota is an independent company, not owned by Subaru Corporation.

Toyota and Subaru share a Subaru factory in Lafayette, IN, where Subaru makes the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 they jointly developed. Toyota Motor Corporation shares trade in the US as an ADR under the symbol TM and Toyota is the #2 automaker in the world. VW is #1, Nissan Renault #2 and GM #4.

I just wanted to chime in a bit. The BRZ/GT-86 is not produced outside of Japan. It is done at Subaru's Gunma factory in Japan. The Toyota Camry is also no longer being produced at the Indiana plant. So it is solely being used for Subaru's production.



Anyways, I went to a couple of airshows last month, and saw a total of three Pentax users. 1 KS-2, 1 KP and 1 K-1. The K-1 user was kind enough to let me handle his gear. I just have to hope for an epic sale price on it one of these days.