Response Magazine

Cover Story

ers to print documents and Kodak lab-quality photos at home using premium, pigment-based inks that were priced well below other printer ink on the market. A cartridge of black ink for an EasyShare printer costs $9.99, while a five-ink color cartridge runs $14.99. Kodak contends that when consumers buy its “Photo Value Pack,” a 4-inch by 6-inch print can cost as little as 10 cents to print.

“When the EasyShare was launched last January, Kodak was entering a well-established market with dominant players,” Allen says. “But we had a unique story to share. Most manufacturers in the market were almost giving away the printer in order to lock you into their ink products. The low-cost printer is the razor, while the ink was the blade — prices for ink had become exorbitant. We believe you ought to be able to afford the ink to print what you want — a consumer shouldn’t have to spend $75 for ink cartridges.”

The question for the Kodak team charged with marketing the EasyShare line was how to drive interest in the story they had to deliver to get consumers to understand the difference between their product and those from HP or Lexmark. He contends, “How do you communicate the full story? The challenge was to find a mix of vehicles — in long-form and short-form media — and the right balance to make it work. We had to ask ‘Is there another vehicle that gives us the opportunity to communicate our total message?’”

It was at that point that Allen says Kodak approached its ad agency partners at the Kaplan Thaler Group to “get our

heads around the unique selling proposition (USP) of the EasyShare.” Soon after those discussions started, it became clear. “This was the perfect opportunity for an infomercial — it’s a great brand with a great heritage and the product has a very clear USP,” he says.

Allen contends that the experiences of other major companies affected his decision to take the EasyShare printer to DRTV. “Before deciding to do this, we looked at a number of case histories,” he says. “We looked a lot at Bose, as another consumer electronic product, and saw how they sold product and built their retail channel. It was a big inspiration.”