It’s often said that to effectively sell an innovation, marketers should focus the sale on the quarter inch hole, not the quarter inch drill. Because consumers care less about the innovation itself than about the way it will benefit their lives.
Sometimes though, consumers aren’t interested in either the drill or the hole. I suspect this will be the case for what is undoubtedly an amazing technological achievement from a company that is struggling to become relevant again.
As reported in today’s New York Times, Polaroid is introducing instant digital photography printing with a neat little device that connects wirelessly with your picture taking cell phone via Bluetooth to print 2-by-3 inch pictures while you’re on the go. [NYT article: Instant Digital Prints and Polaroid Nostalgia]
NYT article: Instant Digital Prints and Polaroid Nostalgia
Since Polaroid built its business on letting folks take and print a picture that could be shared instantly, it seems like a natural evolution into the digital age. But I doubt it will fly. Why would anyone today print a picture on the spot to share it? Aren’t most digital pics taken with cell phones sent via the web and posted on social networks like MySpace and Facebok for the “community” to see?
Perhaps Polaroid is hoping to capitalize on the previously successful strategy of encouraging people to use instant photography to capture evidence or information. Remember the “See what develops” campaign that had people take a picture of a broken gizmo so it could be shown to the repairperson?
A valid approach but it’s an angle others are already exploiting with wireless technology. Fido Video Calling promoted the feature recently with a TV spot showing a guy using his cell phone in a drug store to show the 
feminine hygiene section to his partner at home in real time so he could buy her the right kind.
I’m not the only skeptic. Steve Hoffenberg, an analyst at the market research firm Lyra, is quoted in the NYT piece: “Potential markets can exist because they aren’t tapped, but also because they aren’t actually a market. It’s not always evident up front which is the case.”
I’d put it this way: there’s a hole in the market but I doubt there’s a market in the hole.
Some related data about Quebeckers and digital photography:
- Significantly more Quebeckers (22%) say they do not take pictures.
- They are therefore less likely than Canadians in the ROC to use photo-sharing tools such as online photo sharing websites, networking sites such as Facebook, and emailing photos.
- This is also true of “old fashioned” photo sharing. Significantly less Quebeckers say they give friends and family printed photos (56% compared to 69% in Ontario, 71% in BC and the Maritimes, 76% in the Prairies and 74% in Alberta. Asked how many printed photos they have, Quebeckers said 336.0 (mean) compared to 510.1 for Ontarians.
- Despite the proliferation of new photographic devices, Quebeckers claim they have not increased the amount of pictures they take while Canadians in the rest of Canada claim to be taking more pictures the past 5 years.
(Source: July 2007 survey conducted for Kodak by Ipsos Reid)
Comments