Kodak and Brand Building

[P3D Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>]

I appreciate the patience you folks of the list have shown with my posts
which deal with Kodak and the state of the comsumer photography business
today... I think it is a fascinating case study in real time, and does
have major implications for all users of Kodak comsumer products, as it
is not at all clear that the company's future includes a consumer
products division...

Check out this company press release...no problem reading between the
lines on this one...

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BW1250  SEP 03,1997       8:47  PACIFIC      11:47  EASTERN


(30-MINUTE-PHOTOS-ETC) Business Trend:  Brand Loyalty for Kodak 
Photographic Products Buys Success for 30 Minute Photos Etc.

   Business Editors

   IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 1997--You won't find a 
single green-colored roll of Fuji film at 30 Minute Photos Etc.  The 
Irvine-based photo imaging center has learned the importance of brand 
loyalty.
   "Although Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. (NASDAQ:FUJIY) is a corporate 
sponsor of the 1997 U.S. Tennis Open, and its logo adorns New York's 
Arthur Ashe Stadium, consumers still embrace Kodak (NYSE:EK) 
products.  Here's the proof:  the latest retailing trend is to link 
up with only one key manufacturer.  Just as Price Club offers only 
one outside brand of film (Kodak), many retailers also are aligning 
themselves with a single source for all products," noted Mitchell 
Goldstone, president of 30 Minute Photos Etc.
   "In the more than seven years that my company has applied this 
winning strategy, only a handful of customers ever asked for another 
manufacturer's product.  Considering that hundreds-of-millions are 
spent to market other photo products, consumers almost never demand 
that our shelves be stocked differently.  It's not that the market's 
closed to competition, but rather that consumers get a better deal. 
Kodak was the only one that sought our business and trusted us to 
succeed in the early days of our company's history.  The other 
vendors never came by, and still don't.  This business trend toward 
brand loyalty has worked so well that I can count on a single hand 
the number of people turned away because we didn't have a different 
brand of film."
   The benefits of brand loyalty toward a single vendor include:  a 
closer alliance and strong, family-like relationship with the 
vendor; enhanced financial considerations; better wholesale/retail 
pricing; easier ordering and inventory control; and retailers can 
stock a complete line of products.  Beyond guaranteed sales, the 
manufacturer also enjoys this partnership because its store 
merchandisers, which is a capital intensive point-of-sale expense, 
displays only its brand.  Often stores are in violation of its 
agreement with one manufacturer by stocking these displays with 
multiple products disassociated with the company paying for the 
merchandiser.
   30 Minute Photos Etc. is one of the nation's highest volume 
independent retail photo imaging centers which now features on-site 
Advanced Photo System film processing.  The company recently was 
awarded "Honorary Business of the Year" by the city of Irvine and 
the Irvine Chamber of Commerce, and was recognized by Chapman 
University for winning "The Ethics in America Outstanding 
Achievement Award."  Company president, Mitchell Goldstone, will be 
a featured speaker at the Photo Marketing Association's Fall 
Convention in Anaheim on Sept. 12, 1997.
   Contact:  Mitchell Goldstone, president, 30 Minute Photos Etc;  
92 Corporate Park Plaza, Irvine, Calif. 92606; phone:  714/474-7654; 
fax:  714/474-1233; e-mail:  photos@xxxxxxxxxxx

   --30--RMS/np   TJJ/la

   CONTACT:  30 Minute Photos Etc., Irvine
             Mitchell Goldstone, 714/474-7654


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