In 2011, Kodak appointed a new CMO and head of Consumer Digital Imaging, Pradeep Jotwani. The new CMO would be responsible for Kodak’s digital cameras, picture frames, pocket video cameras, kiosks, imaging sensors, consumer inkjet printers and the Kodak Gallery.
Like both Antonio Perez and President and Chief Operating Officer Philip J. Faraci, Jotwani was a former HP executive, as well, having served there for 25 years.
I was glad to see this change happen at the leadership level within the marketing group. However, I was also concerned that Jotwani might become just another part of the problem. I didn’t waste any time trying to connect with him. When Jotwani was officially introduced to the Kodak team at a meeting, I asked him if he had the chance to meet Steve Sasson, Kodak’s inventor of the digital camera. He replied yes and stated that he was now working in intellectual property. After Jotwani answered the question, one of the senior marketing consultants leaned over to me and asked, “Patrick, who is Steve Sasson?” It was then that I realized just how mutilated our marketing teams truly were.
Pradeep Jotwani clearly had his work cut out for him: a completely broken marketing, left behind by former CMO Jeffrey W. Hayzlett.
During the time Kodak was under siege by the most devastating conditions in its history, former CMO Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, while still at Kodak, was soaring high, focusing on things that had nothing to do with fixing Kodak’s marketing problems. Instead, Hayzlett was drumming the media trail promoting his own book, so much so that Forbes Magazine dubbed him “Celebrity CMO”.
And adding insult to injury, just prior to his resignation, Hayzlett was actually responsible for bringing in Deutsch – the other very experienced advertising agency – without an official review. In that same week he was also promoted from Chief Business Development Officer to CMO, reporting directly to CEO Antonio Perez. To me this whole thing started to stink really bad, as this appeared to be nothing more than high-level butt kissing.
Here is my view of the situation: Jeff Hayzlett brings in Deutsch as Kodak’s new and improved ad agency and effectively saves the day, as Antonio Perez interpreted the move. And in return for this little favor, Donny Deutsch himself, Chairman of Deutsch, thanks Jeff Hayzlett by giving a glowing endorsement of Hayzlett’s newly released book, stating, “Valuable advice on how to help revive any business, big or small.”
Wow, it certainly would have been nice if Hayzlett had put some of those words of advice into action at Kodak.
The Director of Worldwide Brand Marketing and VP of the Consumer Digital Group said when questioned about the appointment of Deutsch, “They have a great reputation and are a very creative shop.” The problem with those comments is that reputation and creativity were not the concern with Kodak’s marketing partners; it was poorly managed spending and the lack of diverse marketing. These comments again underscored how misguided our marketing teams were, as both of these areas lacked the required direction and control by Kodak employees.
From Kodak Gallery to Eastman Kodak, there was poor decision after poor decision around marketing at the highest levels. Money was being poured into ad agencies on one end and nothing discernible was coming out of the other.
It has been said that Hayzlett “embraces traditional modes of customer engagement”--again to the point of my book’s sub-title, “Death By Tradition”. A self-proclaimed ‘change agent’, Hayzlett was anything but, and the rest of Kodak’s leadership also rode the high wave of Kodak’s past – a tradition that had long passed.
From Antonio Perez to Philip Faraci and Pradeep Jotwani, all Hewlett-Packard alumni, there were inherent flaws in the framework of the Kodak leadership.
Kodak is a picture company and thanks to skilful marketing long ago, the name has become synonymous with photography. The new leadership at Kodak comes from a printer company. Perhaps this is the very reason they missed the big picture.