was finalized in September 2007 — just
seven weeks before the campaign’s
planned rollout for holiday shoppers at
Thanksgiving.
Bringing Kodak to Life!
Allen contends the campaign could
not have come together without a core
group in the Kodak family. “Our internal
team was fantastic,” he says. “Ben Smith
and Amber York worked on the regional
side, helping us with logistics. Lisa Hack-ett and Kelly Kay coordinated production
and media, while Joe Nardone represented the product from the printer group.”
This group effort was crucial in order
to create a direct response TV program
in such a short timeframe. “We’ve used a
number of different DR vehicles in both
the B-to-B and B-to-C spaces, but never
an infomercial format,” Allen says. “The
company had some experience with two
other infomercials, one in the late 1990s
and the other earlier this decade. But
both faced serious challenges because the
teams behind them didn’t stay true to the
DRTV format, trying to mix in multiple
objectives rather than simply making the
best offer.”
This time around, though, there would
be no such mistake as, with the help of
Kaplan Thaler, production house MayhewBreen and media buyer Euro RSCG
Edge, the Kodak team decided to feature
the midrange EasyShare 5300 (suggested
retail price $199.99) in the long-form
ad. Allen says, “Our agency, production
and media partners are so familiar with
the DRTV market, they helped us learn
quickly and make the right choices.”
The long-form show hit the airwaves
just after Thanksgiving. What followed
was astounding. “We exceeded our sales
goals by 20 percent,” Allen says. According to production house MayhewBreen,
nearly 300,000 EasyShare printers were
sold via phone, Web and retail during the
show’s less-than-30-day run.
Allen is more measured in his response to questions about the campaign’s
overwhelming success. “We simply
exceeded all expectations. The show
achieved phenomenal results in direct
response and provided great lift at retail.
Before we went on-air, we wanted to
make sure we had sufficient inventory for
both DR orders and retailers. When we
sold through all pre-packed product, the
phones just kept ringing,” he says. A visit
to the Kodakoffer.com Web site (where
viewers of the infomercial were directed)
today simply directs consumers to visit
retailers including the Kodak Store, Best
Buy, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, Sam’s
Club and Circuit City.
Kodak plans on reintroducing the
DRTV ad this month. At the same time,
“Kodak plans to create and introduce
new product streams via DRTV, and
we are cutting a new infomercial for the
CONTINUED >
