[ll_coffee_lP]

Great thread. Here's some of my thoughts.

I don't think Pentax needs to be in stores to be held at all. This is the old way of shopping that is becoming more and more outdated every year.

I don't think Pentax needs to get some superstar like Tiger, Ovechkin, or someone who's in tune with females (of which there are very few on this forum).

I don't think Pentax needs to compete with Canon/Nikon/Sony in any of the traditional fashions...except for keeping their bodies up to current standards and maintaining the image they have (in body SR, weather sealing, wonderful prime lenses).

Here's what I think they should do...and what I would look to do if I had a position with Pentax in marketting:

1.) Begin to advertise on TV. Do so that the camera itself isn't what's being sold...just the name and unforgettable images that can be associated with it. I'm thinking something along the lines of Telus and the lizards and flowers on white backgrounds. Make the comercials flashy, with high contrast and colour saturation, with songs playing in the background that are current and hot...and at the end, in bold letters, just show a website address. That is all...no talking whatsoever, but maybe a pic of a dslr.

2.) Yank bodies/lenses from all retailers. This is the old way of doing business that is expensive and has far too many middlemen. Selling is online only now...get with the times or go buy a canikon. The only people that ever return lenses because IQ is slightly off are camera enthusiasts/pros...guess what...there aren't that many of us in the sea of people using cameras. This is win/win all around.

3.) Build a robust website that is simple to navigate and is a direct reflection of what the TV ads are showing. Pick your bundle, pick your colours, the choice is yours...you are an individual - show it off. Small discrete bodies, pancake lenses, SR, weather sealing, etc, etc.

4.) Sell the image that owning a dslr is fashionable...like your cell phone, ipod, gps, etc. If you don't have one you are a geyser. We are going for the young generation here as the old generation is already aware of Pentax and their benefits.

Will this type of strategy appease everyone?? Of course not, but it would build brand recognition faster than you can say canikony (and would sell more than 450,000 cameras in a year worldwide). Sony is trying to compete with the big boys by playing catch-up...I say Pentax build their own strategy much like the Nintendo Wii did with this generation of console gaming.

Be you, Be unique, Be interesting, Be Pentax.

c[_]

[Ash]

Wow - didn't see this thread until now.
Lots of great ideas here, topped off with brilliant strategies suggested by you Clinton.
Even the expanded catch phrase is worth pursuing.

It's obvious marketing is key to exposure and subsequently sales - Pentax indeed needs to take advantage of the brilliance of their products and promote them.

They are making moves, perhaps not as well as one would hope, but in Australia all the major photo magazines feature a full-page K-7 ad either on the back cover or inside.

Where are the K-x ads? I encouraged a colleague of mine to purchase a K-x as his first dSLR, and he was happily sold after only a few days of research. The product is a winner. Ads will boost that impact much more than what word-of-mouth can...

[Peter Zack]

Coffee, love it, Email that to Pentax. There's the slogan and the stategy.

I'd add somethng to the web site as well. Use the PPG better linked to the selling web site. The selling web site should be very simple to the person who comes there to look at models, features etc. So you click on the KX link and right there is a direct link to a gallery of images which are the best of the best off the PPG. If your photo is selected for this gallery of shots, you should have your head shot photo there and a comment about why you love your camera. Real users experiences.

I thought of the telus ad program. I might be a decent model to follow. I like the ad Rawr posted. We need more of that.

[jogiba]

I am amazed that anyone looking to purchase a DSLR in the internet age does not already know about the KX. I wonder if that is a mental defect or what ? Back in 1966 when I was in the US Army I knew about the Canon Pellix QL SLR that had a stationary semitransparent pellicle reflex mirror that replaces the traditional moving SLR mirror so I ordered one with a 58mm F1.2 lens from a Canon dealer in Hong Kong. Then again without ever seeing one in person I purchased the Pentax 6x7 system with ten lenses from 35mm Fisheye to 400mm F4 with Pentax Digital Spotmeter etc from a Pentax dealer in Hong Kong back in 1974.

[ll_coffee_lP]

Thanks for the comments! No idea how to send this thread to Pentax - so if someone wants to tell them about it - feel free

c[_]

[Rondec]

4.) Sell the image that owning a dslr is fashionable...like your cell phone, ipod, gps, etc. If you don't have one you are a geyser. We are going for the young generation here as the old generation is already aware of Pentax and their benefits.



c[_]

I hate to pick nits, but I don't think you meant geyser. Geezer?

[ll_coffee_lP]

If you hate to pick nits why did you bother? It's obvious that it's a spelling error.

c[_]

[Marc Langille]

Believe it or not, this story is absolutely true. In St. Louis we actually have a successful B&M Camera Chain - Creve Couer Camera. 9 stores. Been in business since the 60's. Built their business on the Spotmatic.

THEY STILL CARRY, AND THEY STILL FEATURE PENTAX!!!

Last night I actually saw a Co-Op TELEVISION COMMERCIAL (30 second spot in the local slot right after the Network News) for the Pentax K-x!! featured at Creve Couer Camera.

Maybe all it takes in a local store owner (maybe a local Co-Op of single stores?) willing to take a business risk.

This is the real deal - we see Pentax commercials (and hear them on the radio) every year during the holiday season and from time to time throughout the year.

Paul, there you go. All Pentax has to do is target some key markets as a test. Partner with a few stores, produce good TV ads like the one above and see if it has an impact on sales. If it does, then roll it out across the country. If not, I'll shut up.

Unfortunately the converse is true at our major camera store chain (5 stores) here in AR. Bedfords was very willing to give shelf space to Pentax just 1-2 years ago and had a healthy business selling both bodies and lenses. My website images were used as a referral to help sell the Pentax system.

Due to the loss of the sales reps with the restructuring last year, that spelled change at Bedfords. They will not be restocking nor buying new products, which in many of the staffers eyes is a shame. There is perhaps one K20D, several battery grips and a flash or two, plus some lenses: DA 16-45, 20-200, DA* 16-50 are about it. Shame...

Regards,
Marc

Was the perfect opportunity for a quick 3 month experiment for Pentax Usa

Almost every mall in america has empty store fronts and kiosk space that they were dying to fill for cheap just to make the malls seem alive in the holiday shopping season.

All they needed to do was stock and staff some quick kiosk's and or small stores in the malls. Start in Oct, thru Nov Dec... tie the retail shops to the rebates and get the damn cameras in peoples hands.

the foot traffic was still gonna be there and the opportunity to have some smart folks demo and talk up Pentax was there.

Instead, we have the best two cameras Pentax has had in some time, maybe ever, and here another holiday season passes without any retail presence.

I do not know who is really running Pentax USA... but who has decided "no product in stores" is an idiot! All due respect.

PS I did not read this entire thread, so if I am just regurgitating someone elses idea... my apologies

[dylansalt]

why should we the common tog be coming up with pr/mkt ideas for Pentax Corporation???????

[Peter Zack]

Clearly it's not up to us but lets hope they read these forums from time to time and hear us.

But as Marc clearly showed, without reps, this is a tough battle. Great ideas like Gus's just can't happen if you don't have the staff to get the product in people's hands. But to me this would have been far more successful than a few "road show" meet and greets that they had a few months ago. I heard only 20-30 people went to each of them and many were existing Pentax shooters.
It wouldn't have to be every mall. Just maybe 6-10 very key ones in certain markets.

[Rondec]

It is funny. I have read the thread and there seem to be two concurrent ideas. One is that retailers are not the answer and that everything should be done through the internet. The second is that there have to be cameras widely available for consumers to handle/hold to sell them. Which is right?

I don't know, but I do know that electronics retailers are having more and more problems because of internet sales. If someone goes in to Best Buy, holds a camera for awhile and then goes out and buys it off of Amazon, that has done them no good at all. I live in a very rural area and have purchased many items (including several cameras) that I have never handled, purely on the basis of reviews and specs. I also agree that some advertising would go a long way to making folks familiar with excellent Pentax products.

[falconeye]

So why am I frustrated? Have a look at the sales rank on Amazon. The KX is 26th. Yes it's new but it's been out enough to be higher.

Right now, it is #19 (and this for the most expensive kit (double kit with 55-300)).

Right now, there is no better selling SLR which is not Canikon (there is one Cybershot at #17 and one mFT (Pana GF1) at #10).

Best selling non Canikon SLR.

Not bad in my book.

Other Pentax entries: #27, #36 (K-7), #57, #60, #73 (K-7), #94 (K-2000)

[Shub]

IMO, Pentax COULD be making A LOT of money from the K-x, an amazing camera.
Their ads would not even have to advertise the camera, but rather just the name. Because the second I started looking up the K-x, all I read were positive reviews, minus the now fixed battery issues.
Pentax, start writing K-x everywhere, and watch sales soar!

[Peter Zack]

Falcon, imagine though if it were more aggressively promoted and like all the Nikon ads on TV (the Canon ads suck). This could have been an amazing Christmas for the Hoyatax piggy bank.

I just want them healthy so they can build some 7D and D700 killers. Stop playing catch up and lead the pack for awhile.