Here's a quick branding story excerpted from a article found on the digitalcamerainfo.com website about the recent Photokina show. For the non-photography versed reader, all you need to know is that Hasselblad and Leica created very high-end precision-built camera models throughout the era of traditional photography. The mechanics and optics of their product were impeccable and true differentiators from the other brands in the marketplace.
The tactics of these venerable firms in a digital era that has somewhat democratized what were the advantages of their former analogue product are being found suspect by some. It is a comparative case study in the making as these two still highly valued brands move forward.
Here's the excerpt:
"Photokina is one of the few occasions where the average photographer can bask in the glow of the highest of the high-end equipment that the industry has to offer. Yes, you can touch the Leica cameras and shoot with Zeiss lenses. Every other day of the year, they’re in the domain of professionals and rich doctors, but Photokina is a time of sharing. “Let the plebeians be entertained. We need a break from counting our money anyway.”
The Hasselblad Lunar is the Sony NEX-7 in a new shell, marked up 400%
But Hasselblad must think that we all turn stupid when we’re around fancy things. Mainly known for high-quality medium-format cameras and lenses, Hassy tried to pull the wool over our eyes with the Lunar, which is literally the Sony NEX-7 in an expensive case. The NEX-7 is a fantastic camera, and normally costs about $1,300 with a kit lens. Hasselblad made it uglier and bulkier and marked it up to $6,500 without changing anything about the performance—including the cheap kit lens.
They frame it as a luxury camera, something that projects an image, a sense of fashion and class. It’s really just another crass, ostentatious way for people to say, “Hey, I’m filthy rich, so I’m allowed to make stupid decisions,” like parking a Ferrari in a trade show booth (hey, Hasselblad did that, too).To be fair, Hasselblad isn’t the first company to pull this stunt. Leica’s V-Lux series are always just Panasonic cameras with a red dot stamped on the front and a higher price tag. But at least Leica has the good graces to leave the cameras alone otherwise. Hasselblad arguably made the NEX-7 worse with such a gaudy design.
But it all points toward a gross trend: Expensive cameras as a status symbol. It’s one thing when people buy high-end cameras that they don’t know how to use. It’s another when companies bank on the fact that somebody will overpay for a camera only because it has a different logo. Let’s hope this experiment fails."
http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/Features/The-3-Biggest-Photo-Trends-of-the-Next-2-Years.htm?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=cpc
Where I do differ with this article is that an expensive camera as a status symbol is not a new trend. Ninty-eight percent of professionals never owned either of these brands. The largest part of Hasselblad and Leica marketshare has always been folks with more money than most any professional photographer. What is new is that these two revered brands have had to recognize that their long time quality manufacture differentiators in the marketplace are now gone. Right now, as they are running on reputation, all they have left is the value of those logos. Short-term, the revenues produced by the status seeker might keep the firms afloat while they figure out where they fit in this new imaging world. Their analogue product was a status symbol because it was unlike anything produced by their competitors. (Thirty years ago, a Leica or Hasselblad logo on a Minolta or Pentax would have been heiracy.) Hopefully they will realize that to do nothing more than stick their logo on other peoples product is not a long term solution. To wrap this with a car analogy... they're selling Hondas and Toyotas with BMW and Mercedes hood ornaments.
