Its champagne time at Kodak

KB10 is a product born out of extensive research conducted by Eastman Kodak and its Indian affiliate and was launched in March 1997 keeping the Indian consumer in mind. Apart from being sensitively priced at Rs 995 a piece -- the Indian market is very price sensitive -- KB10’s other notable features are its compactness, clarity of pictures and the fact that it is very easy to operate. It is among Eastman Kodak’s range of easy-to-use-economy cameras, launched worldwide

Rajesh Singh, senior vice president, consumer imaging at Kodak India told domain-b, "KB10 is so easy to handle that it does not allow users to make mistakes even if they want to. Our research had indicated that most of the consumers were worried about lack of photographic skills and therefore it was designed to make photography worry and decision free."

He said this was one of the basic reasons for the success of the camera, which had come a long way from being sold every 180 seconds in 1997 to every 60 seconds now in India. He said KB10 had made it possible for anyone to be a photographer and has been instrumental in bringing more people into photography as it gives a "lifetime of joy to Indian consumer". Mr Singh said many small things made KB10 a very consumer friendly product. He added that technology, innovation and extraordinary value to Indian consumer were other key reasons for the success of KB10.

Popping the champagne bottle open Mr Ravi Khanna, general manager Singapore, Malaysia and South Asia & vice president Asia Pacific region Kodak (Singapore) PTE. Ltd. said, "Kodak India’s effort in achieving this feat has contributed greatly to the overall performance of Kodak in the Asian subcontinent. KB10 has proved to be Kodak’s ace product worldwide and continues to bring more and more people into photography."

Complimenting the Indian managers he said the team in India keeps crossing new milestones day after day and the KB10 one is the latest addition to the long list. He told domain-b, "KB10 shows how people can be brought into photography. It has put India on the map of quality manufacturers."

Mr. RS Mani, managing director Kodak India Ltd, said that a decade ago when the company invested in its plant in Bangalore, people were asking questions about the need to set up a manufacturing unit in India. He said the stand that the company took at that point of time stood vindicated by the fact that KB10 was being manufactured at the Bangalore unit. He said that the ISO-9002 certified plant was also making Kodak Kroma, the largest selling camera in India in its segment. He described the moment as "a dream come true" and added that by selling one million KB10 cameras, Kodak had introduced one new household to photography every 90 seconds in the past years.

Replying to questions raised by domain-b Mr Mani said that the company had invested about Rs 12 crore as seed money in the Bangalore plant and its investment in KB10 was of the order of about Rs 1 crore. He said KB10 was also being exported to USA, Middle East, Europe and couple of African countries. He said total exports effected by the company in calendar 2000 were of the order of Rs 11 crore.

To mark the occasion the company is launching a contest called "free films of a lifetime". The contest is based on the purchase of a KB10 camera. To run nationally across the country and supported by print advertising, the contest will run between 1 April 2001 and 30 June 2001. The contest requires participants to answer 5 questions. An independent panel of judges will then conduct a lucky draw from the entries received and select 50 winners who will be awarded a cash equivalent of MAX films for a lifetime. The cash equivalent of MAX film will be based on the average film used by an individual household per annum (Source SNAP study 2000 --- research conducted by an independent research agency). It will also be based on the age of the consumer on the purchase date of the camera and the approximate life span as estimated by the retail census data. (Assumed to be higher than the life expectancy of an Indian at birth.)

Kodak India Ltd. has been in India since 1913. Kodak reaches out to a large section of Indian consumers through its extensive distribution network, which includes 600 outlets in 224 towns of Kodak Express, the biggest photo-retailing chain in India. It has 6 principal business divisions.

The most prominent one is the consumer imaging division which manufactures and sells cameras, films and other processing products and services followed by the Kodak Professional division which caters to a diverse set of consumers such as commercial photographers, photojournalists, portrait and social photographers, lab owners and graphics art industry.

Its entertainment imaging division caters to the demands of the motion picture, television and commercial markets, providing them with a broad range of products and services. The health imaging division serves the health care industry with products like X-ray films, laser films and printers for CT and MRI. The digital and applied imaging division has a wide range of cameras with accompanying software for applications and storage products like scanners, CD writers and various other kinds of CDs. It also offers a wide range of output media for indoor and outdoor applications. Finally the business imaging systems division focuses on providing imaging equipment, associated software and media for a range of document imaging and work management applications that requires micrographics, digital or hybrid solutions.