Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

9. Elements of Product
   Planning for Goods and
   Services

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

place

price

promotion

product

easy to load the film. Photos

could be shot in any of three

sizes, including an extrawide

format. The film adjusted for

differences in light. And devel-

oped film came back protected

in the cartridge. Reprints were

easy to order too because a

numbered proof sheet came

with each set of prints. Cus-

tomers liked these benefits.

What they really wanted was

package, many people bought

Advantix film expecting it to

work in a 35mm camera; it

wouldn’t. Initially, getting

Advantix pictures developed

was also a hassle. Retailers

were slow to put money into

new equipment to develop

Advantix film; they waited to

see if customers wanted it. And

it added to consumer confusion

that Fuji, Minolta, and other

firms each had their own brand

names for APS products.

By 1998, these problems

were smoothing out. But sales

were slow because too few

consumers knew about Advan-

tix. So Kodak relaunched the

product. Kodak stuck with the

Advantix name but used a new

package design. Ads directly

pitted Advantix against the

problems with 35mm pictures,

even though that risked eating

into Kodak’s 35mm sales.

Camera giveaway promotions

on the Kodak website

(www.kodak.com) stirred

interest too. And price-off

discounts on three-roll pack-

ages got consumers to take

more pictures. As demand

grew, retailers also gave

http://www.mhhe.com/fourps

247

http://www.mhhe.com/fourps

ct

good snapshots_so Advantix

seemed worth the 15 percent

higher price.

However, in its rush to beat

rivals to market, Kodak ran

into production problems. It

could not get enough cameras

to retailers. So the big ad

campaign to build familiarity

with the Advantix brand of film

and cameras was wasted.

Worse, because of a confusing