Kodak’s bankruptcy announcement is a disappointment for many photographers, Chango’s staff included. In a brave attempt to rescue an iconic brand, we brainstormed how search retargeting could save Kodak. Nothing less!
Our top 5 strategies:
Deeper understanding of customers’ needs
Search Retargeting is a great way to gauge online customer demand for a given product. The performance of keywords and associated creatives gives incredible insights into a customer’s mindset. For instance, it would be interesting to run a simple A/B creative test on the keyword ‘polaroid’ and see whether customers are ‘passionate users’ or looking to switch to digital products. Advertising campaigns can then be optimized to cater to different customers’ needs.
Source: Chango's data network
Better ROI and budget allocation
In SEM, the word ‘digital camera’ currently costs $2.07 per click. With search retargeting, we buy media inventory on the ad exchanges at CPMs that vary between $2 to $5 CPM. And since we are only serving ads to customers who have searched for related keywords in search engines, we can achieve high Click-Throughs. More often than not, search retargeting is an effective way to reach customers at a fraction of SEM costs. This can prove handy to Kodak marketers who will increasingly be under pressure to do more with less.
Innovative Marketing
Who said Kodak wasn’t innovative? After all they invented the first digital camera in 1992 (but failed to bring to market). They also created one of the first web photo galleries a few years ago. Now is the good time to try new things and search retargeting is one of the most innovative forms of targeted online advertising available right now.
Fighting back
Kodak is one of those brands that has suffered market erosion due to the entry of multiple digital camera and printing equipment providers. But it does not mean the brand has lost its luster. Maybe what it needs is to be more visible to consumers who are searching for competitive products online. Unlike SEM, search retargeting makes it easy and cost effective to bid on competitors’ brand terms.
Bringing those memories back
If you belong to Generation X or before, chances are you have some good memories associated with Kodak. Perhaps it was the first camera you were given for your 13th birthday, or maybe it was the first time you uploaded pictures online to share with the rest of the family. Let’s resurface those memories. Using the power of dynamic creatives, it’s conceivable to pull out dynamic images from the Kodak Gallery based on the type of keywords customers are searching online. For example, a customer searching for “Eiffel Tower 2005” would be served a ‘Kodak Moment’ labeled ad that shows the best-rated picture of the Eiffel taken that year.
Smart marketers know search retargeting is a powerful marketing weapon for brands to achieve their goals. As Kodak emerges from bankruptcy, there are some clear benefits in trying it out. Now they have the full picture 
Kodak actually invented the digital camera in 1975.
And believe it or not they invented oled technology in like 1980.
And more. Kodak innovated and shaped so much for photography.
SAVE KODAK.