Kodak sponsorship with Disney Parks to end this year

[Spike-in-Berlin]

This sponsorship cost us the Mt. Fuji rollercoaster in EPCOTs WS so I am not exactly sad about it. Also the assortment in the kodak shops in WDW had become incredible bad in the last years and the last attraction Kodak sponsored is quite abysmal.

 

[wiigirl]

Kodak was indeed a great company. Too bad it did not navigate the sea change so in camera technology so well.

This....

 

[bgraham34]

Kodak was indeed a great company. Too bad it did not navigate the sea change so in camera technology so well.

Yup, they missed the boat on Digital film and it bit them in the .

 

[Thrill Seeker]

Besides ruining Imagination, I had no problem with Kodak. It's never a good thing to lose a sponsor (besides when they dropped out of Imag). I'm especially worried that the rumor of Muppet Vision 3-D's pre-show getting redone might happen now to remove Kodak...

 

[Bolt]

I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

 

[BrittanyRose428]

That is why I was thinking that maybe one full service camera shop on property might be about the most you could do. You might be able to do memory cards behind the counter at a few places, but that is about it. I doubt Sandisk is just waiting for 1/1/13 to roll around so they can pounce on Disney. But who knows? I have been wrong before, probability states I will be wrong again.

I was actually thinking Sandisk might get on this. I work at Staples, and in recent years it seems as though Sandisk is doing very well, and its definitely the go to company for SD cards and whatnot. I could see them using this as a marketing opportunity for themselves.

 

[MichWolv]

Without even knowing it, you just basicaly defined the reason why Kodak is going out of business.

Pretty sure he knew it.

 

[DisneySaint]

Personally I think theme park sponsorships are becoming a thing of the past. My theory would simply be with how the investment pans out. Do theme park sponsorships actually "pay for themselves" and/or generate new business? Certainly we can all agree that in the year 2012, the effect of Kodak's sponsorship on us is nearly nil. I honestly don't even know what kind of Kodak product I would buy except maybe a camera but even then, there are many better and more recognizable brands today. Find me a teenager who knows much about Kodak.

I think perhaps food/drink sponsorships might serve a better purpose to the company doing the sponsoring. Dole Whips even have the brand name in them!

Overall: I don't think the expense of a sponsorship actually has much payoff to the company doing it.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Yet another step in the downfall of this Iconic American company. It is really a sad day. Like WDWFigment said it is cool looking at the old Kodak ads from the past. I clearly remember when I was a kid and got my first Kodak camera one special Christmas morning.

 

[Jillie Fish]

I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

Same here. I don't see Kodak being very relavent these days sadly.

I was actually thinking Sandisk might get on this. I work at Staples, and in recent years it seems as though Sandisk is doing very well, and its definitely the go to company for SD cards and whatnot. I could see them using this as a marketing opportunity for themselves.

I was thinking the same thing. Most if not all of my SD cards are Sandisk. I can definitely invision them selling emergency sandisk SD cards in the future and doing well with it.

 

[Master Yoda]

Personally I think theme park sponsorships are becoming a thing of the past. My theory would simply be with how the investment pans out. Do theme park sponsorships actually "pay for themselves" and/or generate new business? Certainly we can all agree that in the year 2012, the effect of Kodak's sponsorship on us is nearly nil. I honestly don't even know what kind of Kodak product I would buy except maybe a camera but even then, there are many better and more recognizable brands today. Find me a teenager who knows much about Kodak.

I think perhaps food/drink sponsorships might serve a better purpose to the company doing the sponsoring. Dole Whips even have the brand name in them!

Overall: I don't think the expense of a sponsorship actually has much payoff to the company doing it.

If that were true, no one would ever do it. There would be no names on stadiums, the blimp floating above football games would just have "Blimp" written on the side and GM would have not just dumped millions into a Test Track re-do.

 

[Master Yoda]

Yet another step in the downfall of this Iconic American company. It is really a sad day. Like WDWFigment said it is cool looking at the old Kodak ads from the past. I clearly remember when I was a kid and got my first Kodak camera one special Christmas morning.

My father worked for them in the 50's and 60's and went on and on about what a great company it was. If he was alive today he would be utterly shocked that they could fall this far.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

Me too.. I figured once they stopped their sponsorship of Imagination, everything else would have followed rather quickly... But, I guess contracts are contracts and they fulfilled their end...

 

[MissM]

I was actually thinking Sandisk might get on this. I work at Staples, and in recent years it seems as though Sandisk is doing very well, and its definitely the go to company for SD cards and whatnot. I could see them using this as a marketing opportunity for themselves.

"Only trust your memories to Sandisk memory cards!"

Seriously though, Yoda has a point in the lack of disposable camera accessories these days. I doubt very many people want to drop hundreds of dollars on a lens while at Disney for example, so what is there really that's needed? They could easily set up one of those vending machines that sell iPods and Cameras and such on property and/or have a central place for printing up photos (print-on-demand postcards would be BRILLIANT marketing) but really, people's photography needs are so vastly different these days from where they were when MK opened.

It doesn't surprise me that Kodak is giving up sponsorship. I'm amazed they've held out this long honestly. I find it sad that, as a company Kodak, once so synonymous with photography, is going the way of the dodo bird.


ETA: I wonder if someone like Canon or Nikon might be interested in being the official camera of WDW. They might not sell cameras in the parks but they might pay for that kind of advertisement and brand awareness.

 

[PhilharMagician]

My father worked for them in the 50's and 60's and went on and on about what a great company it was. If he was alive today he would be utterly shocked that they could fall this far.

Did he work in Rochester? Sounds like he had a lot of pride in his work @ Kodak.

Poor managment making bad decisions can take down a giant quickly.

 

[Master Yoda]

Did he work in Rochester? Sounds like he had a lot of pride in his work @ Kodak.

Poor managment making bad decisions can take down a giant quickly.

Quite honestly I have no idea. He was no longer with the company almost a decade before I was born in 1971.

 

[dizpins14]

A GoPro/Redbull co-sponsored attraction. Just saying.

 

[Polydweller]

Quite honestly I have no idea. He was no longer with the company almost a decade before I was born in 1971.

Yes, poor management was the cause. Kodak invented digital imaging and cameras. But management got myopic about their, at the time, core business of selling film. As a result they held back on digital out of fear of hurting their main business. So, instead of seeing the opportunity they had to lead the digital revolution they actually put themselves behind everyone else and lost out on the technological change.

Sad, and my family that worked at Kodak a couple of decades ago and my friend who recently retired from Kodak Canada are shocked and appalled by the situation.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

One thing I will always remember about Kodak's Sponsership...

 

[dgp602]

I wonder if this will help greenlight a certain mountain in Epcot? Hmmmmmm.

????? At a loss....Hint please?