Kodak faces a very peculiar brand challenge. Film photography, the business that made Kodak a household name, has been rendered obsolete with the onset of digital cameras. It’s old business model destroyed in a flash, Kodak has tried to move into a field already beset with competitors and lookalike products. There’s even competition from the latest camera phones, which are getting as powerful as digital cameras.  

However, Kodak’s brand still retains some cachet. Executives plan to develop Kodak’s digital business while the name lingers in people’s memory, and product design is playing a critical part in that plan. Kodak places much of its brand equity in quality combined with ease of use. The design story of Kodak’s V570 digital camera shows how research, design and branding are inseparable.

To satisfy the need for striking technical innovation, the camera contains two lenses – one for normal shots, the other allowing wide-angle shots. This was a first for digital photography, permitting lay users to take pictures that might only be possible with bulky extra lenses.

The V570 is strikingly simple in appearance, with smooth planar forms and chic, elongated proportions. The design was tested in one of the most tech-savvy markets in the world: Tokyo. Kodak’s design team often met with end-users. All respondents were favourable to the simple, sleek look of the V570. Some even described it as being “unlike” a digital camera.

Designers continued to focus on the V570’s appearance by softening the corners of the casing and adding a chrome bar. All controls were made flush or nearly flush with the casing, and all protrusions from the casing were minimised as much as possible. Another round of interviews, this time in North America, resulted in further refinements: the pop-up flash system was hidden and recessed.

In the end, Kodak released a digital camera that has done much to restore the brand in the mind of consumers. The V570 won a gold medal from the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Awards.

Can Kodak rely on its brand while reinventing itself? The jury is still out, but in 2006, Kodak’s digital earnings growth finally exceeded the earnings decline in its original businesses.