Leica's marketing strategy

[atournas]

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I know nothing about marketing (I come from science) but, to my ignorant eyes, Leica appears to be playing their marketing game quite well. What would the marketing experts in this forum say, especially after the new product announcements? I would very much like to hear.

 

Paul

[250swb]

Leica appears to be playing their marketing game quite well.

 

Paul

 

I agree, it is a game. They manage to annoy people a bit and make people happy a bit, in equal measure. So they announce a pointless camera like the M60 to make loyal photographers angry, at the same time as they make loyal photographers smile with some new lenses. It is the result of a two pronged strategy to sell 'collectibles' to collectors while still selling photographic equipment to photographers. Problem is, the way things are going it wouldn't take much to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Already evident on LUF is extreme scepticism around new Leica products, and this is created by the marketing strategy itself.

 

Steve

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[stuny]

However, they are broadening their offerings to expand into other market segments , which is no doubt part of the plan to get 0.1% market share.

Edited September 18, 2014 by stuny

[wda]

I find it quite difficult to determine any strong strategy. Perhaps in a rapidly changing world of technology change, it is impossible to create any long-term strategy. Regarding the most recent announcements, I can see that Leica has been noting feedback on new products, viz. new Leica X Typ113, yet has been outlandishly innovative in floating the advanced basic information-deficient Leica M Edition 60 as a concept demonstrator. I doubt they would invest money in a project going nowhere.

[efreed2754]

Marketing strategy has many facets. One of Leica's is their mystique.

 

Why offer an M in a special edition without a screen? Who would do something so silly! Screens and digital go together. Why indeed?

 

Hey, it's seemingly so ridiculous that it gets people buzzing about it. So what if they make just a few which are for collectors who may never take a picture anyways with it.

 

Remember Leica made their Luxus not that long after their camera was introduced. The special models continued which based on their initial or future prices create a buzz all by themselves. $600,000 for lizard Luxus recently!!!

 

All this tells their target markets Leica is unique, follows their own path and oh yes makes wonderful German equipment that supports their marketing strategy.

 

Finally, when higher priced collector units sell, it makes their high priced camera seem a better value--called the "halo" effect.

[mmradman]

Marketing strategy has many facets. One of Leica's is their mystique.

 

Why offer an M in a special edition without a screen? Who would do something so silly! Screens and digital go together. Why indeed?

 

Hey, it's seemingly so ridiculous that it gets people buzzing about it. So what if they make just a few which are for collectors who may never take a picture anyways with it.

 

Remember Leica made their Luxus not that long after their camera was introduced. The special models continued which based on their initial or future prices create a buzz all by themselves. $600,000 for lizard Luxus recently!!!

 

All this tells their target markets Leica is unique, follows their own path and oh yes makes wonderful German equipment that supports their marketing strategy.

 

Finally, when higher priced collector units sell, it makes their high priced camera seem a better value--called the "halo" effect.

 

All very true and special edition philosophy is not going to change.

I think bafflement comes from Leica user base, there must be more “pragmatists” who appreciate benefits of LCD screen than there are “purists” who desire digital camera as new special edition M60 is. As for collectors they couldn’t care less – rarer the better.

[DaisyDog]

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I allowed myself to try the Leica M240 on the £80 two day deal from their new bijou boutique in London's Burlington Arcade. Some deal. The camera was a turkey. The lens detection system didn't work on any of my lenses. Their supplied 35mm f2.4 showed as a 50mm f2. The auto exposure was erratic and unreliable, sometime up to three stops overexposed. The manually selected shutter speeds were inaccurately all over the place. The focus aid button needed several jabs to activate. The profile settings that I introduced kept returning to the default position. The controls were generally sluggish to activate, the post viewing option taking up to five second to appear. When these surprising blips were mentioned to Leica I was later told that it had been tested as perfectly normal. I wonder by whom. Would I buy one? Not likely. My present M9 has none of these problems, it is far more pleasant in operation. I fear that Leica has become all style and no substance, a toy for the affluent and undiscerning. That seems to be the current marketing strategy. Am I right?

[mmradman]

I allowed myself to try the Leica M240 on the £80 two day deal from their new bijou boutique in London's Burlington Arcade. Some deal. The camera was a turkey. The lens detection system didn't work on any of my lenses. Their supplied 35mm f2.4 showed as a 50mm f2. The auto exposure was erratic and unreliable, sometime up to three stops overexposed. The manually selected shutter speeds were inaccurately all over the place. The focus aid button needed several jabs to activate. The profile settings that I introduced kept returning to the default position. The controls were generally sluggish to activate, the post viewing option taking up to five second to appear. When these surprising blips were mentioned to Leica I was later told that it had been tested as perfectly normal. I wonder by whom. Would I buy one? Not likely. My present M9 has none of these problems, it is far more pleasant in operation. I fear that Leica has become all style and no substance, a toy for the affluent and undiscerning. That seems to be the current marketing strategy. Am I right?

M240 is more agile in use than M9 ( I have both) so loaner camera must have been at odds. I think visit to real dealer (like Red Dot) would be more fruitful than sale clowns that provided you with the service.

[k_g_wolf ✝]

Hopefully not, Denis.

 

You were given a lemon obviously and nobody dared to confirm this to you.

 

The persons you communicated with, should learn their technical field much better ...

 

Sorry to read sucha post as #2 from a new member round here.

 

But nevertheless, enjoy your M9!

 

 

 

Best

GEORG

[rramesh]

In the fashion and media industry, there is often a need to shock the audience and the market with radical products and ideas that violate norms for values and ideals.

 

Leica is just doing that with some of their new products. Great usable products but with radical functionality within the framework of current technology. e.g. a monochrome camera (MM), a digital camera with no LCD (M60), or even a camera made in new ways (T).

 

These products are so radical in concept that it mesmerizes the audience, generates discussions in the media and blogs, grows the the cult standing of Leica and increases sales for other products.

 

Leica is spot on here and marketing is one dimension of a successful company strategy.

[Firefly]

The great difficulty for them is size, or the lack of it. In the digital world the big Japanese companies are continually churning out new whizz-bang products and marketed in such a way that your life is just not complete without them.

Looking at the M range now, when first introduced this was radical cutting edge stuff but for along time now Leica have played on the heritage and continuity of the product, this isn't unique, think of the Harley Davidson Sportster, nowadays one of the least sporting motorcycles available but sold on it's heritage and "Harley lifestyle".

For the film M's thats ok with film being considered by most as being obsolete and a tiny niche market but for the digital M's it presents a problem, regardless how fine the latest digital M is it is still a part of the digital rot box market where yesterdays model is nothing making it very hard to sell on heritage and continuity and a camera that lasts at least a lifetime.

Bearing in mind the size of the company and the lack of resource and finance to compete with the Japanese then just like Harley Davidson, change a few bits and a new colour, call it a limited edition and you get a few more sales and maximise what you have.

The policy works well for now, but I do wonder about the future, I am guessing the future may well be away from the M range in time which as I write this the thought of heresy comes to mind but all things come to pass eventually, cheers Rob

Edited September 18, 2014 by Firefly
grammer

[DaisyDog]

It's true, Leica has become a vanity product. And as so their marketing strategy is perfect. But it's hard for old fashioned photographers getting to grips with that inevitability. I think the rot set in when they abandoned the perfectly sensible M model naming, with subsequent numerical addition. What on earth was wrong with M11, M12, and so forth. At least we would know where we were in the ongoing Leica heirachy. Now we have M (240), M-A, M-E, M Edition 60, Monochrom, M7, and the weirdest of all, MP and the M-P, one film, the other digital. That makes no sense. What loony thought of that?

[FlashGordonPhotography]

It's true, Leica has become a vanity product. And as so their marketing strategy is perfect. But it's hard for old fashioned photographers getting to grips with that inevitability. I think the rot set in when they abandoned the perfectly sensible M model naming, with subsequent numerical addition. What on earth was wrong with M11, M12, and so forth. At least we would know where we were in the ongoing Leica heirachy. Now we have M (240), M-A, M-E, M Edition 60, Monochrom, M7, and the weirdest of all, MP and the M-P, one film, the other digital. That makes no sense. What loony thought of that?

 

Yeah. Absolutely. I bet no other company would do something like that. It's the kiss of death. I mean, what if Apple did that with the iPod, iPad or Mac.....

 

oh, wait........

 

 

Gordon

[jaapv]

It's true, Leica has become a vanity product. And as so their marketing strategy is perfect. But it's hard for old fashioned photographers getting to grips with that inevitability. I think the rot set in when they abandoned the perfectly sensible M model naming, with subsequent numerical addition. What on earth was wrong with M11, M12, and so forth. At least we would know where we were in the ongoing Leica heirachy. Now we have M (240), M-A, M-E, M Edition 60, Monochrom, M7, and the weirdest of all, MP and the M-P, one film, the other digital. That makes no sense. What loony thought of that?

 

Aren't you attaching a wee bit too much importance to labels? The oldfashioned photographers I know get to grips with cameras and not with model numbers.

Just think of Bards and Roses....

[250swb]

I allowed myself to try the Leica M240 on the £80 two day deal from their new bijou boutique in London's Burlington Arcade.

 

It takes some people a week to get out of snapshot mode, and it would take more than two days to read through M240 FAQ's to fully understand 'what does this do to the other thing when you press it'.

 

But that is nothing to do with strategy, it is to do with selling cameras that 'the man in the street' doesn't understand. Even basic questions such as 'what do all the model designations mean' are now becoming so dense and anachronistic I'm surprised even the dealers can keep up. We have an M240, then an M230, the M-P (and for a civilian how is that different to an MP?), now an M60, and the next (unless they can think of other collectibles in the meantime) will hopefully be one that ordinary people can buy, and that may or may not be possibly called the M360. And even those are the colloquial designations, it doesn't get better in adding even more words in calling an M240 an M(Type 240).

 

It isn't going to be long before Leica owners forget which camera it is they own. More likely they will give up, because progress forward to the next model, such as Nikon F, F2, F3, D600, D610, etc. has been thwarted by Leica's owner opaque 'marketing strategy'. Don't forget, the majority of people who own a camera do not frequent camera forums or have anywhere near the interest in techie stuff as we do. And if they glance at an advert in a Sunday supplement for a Nikon D610 they will instantly realise it is a step on from their D600. Not a step back, not a step sideways, not a collectible special edition, so if nothing else they know there is an 'upgrade' available come their next birthday.

 

Steve

[stuny]

I used to work for a technically driven company that had what must be considered anti-marketing product names. One such name was the model "5800," which was the street number of the headquarters building on Beethoven Street in Marina Del Dey.

[250swb]

Ok, another thought for the Leica 'marketing strategy department outsourced to a trendy PR company who don't take photographs'. Why is it that the people who are likely to be interested know what an BMW M3 is, or indeed an Audi R8, and they also know where it stands in a company hierarchy? Anybody in this Leica 'marketing strategy' can always contact me for an expanded idea of how badly you are working.

 

Steve

[Jeff S]

... it doesn't get better in adding even more words in calling an M240 an M(Type 240)….

 

You're not yet with the program; that's the Typ 240.

 

Leica has apparently committed to a marketing strategy concerning the omission of the letter "e"….Monochrom, etc.

 

Very strang.

 

Jeff

[wattsy]

Leica has apparently committed to a marketing strategy concerning the omission of the letter "e"….Monochrom, etc.

 

Are you being serious?

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[Jeff S]

Srious?

 

Jeff