Last year

On a single summers day last year, we assembled the best brains and creatives in the business from both WO and Kodak. The goal was to use creativity and the power of the Kodak brand to find new ways that they could reenter the consumer world.

We split the day into three sections: hack the story, hack the brand, and hack the experience.

In hack the story, we played with the original tagline of their business, that amazingly holds true to this day ‘you push the button, we do the rest’. Where a ‘button’ can represent anything from touch screen to a sensor and ‘the rest’ is Kodak making things happen quickly and simply. We explored emerging sub-cultures, the analogue renaissance and the competitive digital landscape to find focus areas for the brand in the future, and inform a story that would resonate with consumers.

In hack the brand, we remembered that Kodak is one of the most innovative companies of all time – who invented film, the pocket camera and the digital camera. And we found an old icon they used in the past – the ‘K’ button – that could be the symbol to lead the revival.

In hack the experience, we looked at the people who use Kodak products and the experience they have with the product. We investigated what ‘Kodak quality’ really meant, which formed the basis of some experience principles. And then we prototyped three future products.

The day was intense, ambitious and creative and we weren’t sure how many of the ideas, and products would live…

Six months ago

the ‘KodakIT’ app launched in Singapore. It connects people to local photographers – you set a project and someone will shoot if for you. For users it means you can get a photographer to shoot just about anything, whenever you want, at a good price. For a photographer you get access to new clients and can choose the kind of projects you are most interested in.

A few months ago

the new Super 8 launched at CES. Bringing the quality of film back into movie-making that have arguably been missing with convenient digital movie cameras. It has a solid design, simplified new icon on the side and comes with a supporting service that means you can shoot in film, send it to Kodak and get the digital files back.

Last week

That new Super 8 camera was nominated in the Design Museum ‘designs of the year’.

It’s exciting to see new consumer products from Kodak. These products are just the start of something bigger. They are part of Kodak’s mission to reenter the consumer world – exploring ways to be relevant and useful to people. This drive is led by Steven Overman, Kodak’s global CMO and president of the consumer and film division, and its new digital innovation team. And this is what Steven had to say:

‘Kodak is a creative brand for creative people. Introducing a new Kodak to a new generation means working with the most creative partners we can find. Wolff Olins fit that bill perfectively. The team helped us re-perceive the opportunity landscape for Kodak. They rapidly prototyped a range of solutions that brought potential strategies to life for us. It was both invaluable and a joy.’

It’s time for a Kodak come back!