Leica's marketing of the X Vario

[dkCambridgeshire]

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There is so much criticism of the X Vario and on the other hand, little available on the internet to applaud it. Leica appear to be relying primarily on Yvonne Venegas' video to show the world the camera's capabilities - showing it in a studio environment illustrating wedding photography - and with the photographer holding the camera at arm's length without using the EVF. Angela Nicholson's video is better and more informative but it was not made by Leica - and Leica Mayfair would not let her use the camera outside even though AN's video was made on June 11. I found a couple of Italian videos but as I do not speak the language they did not convey much.

 

Leica could have made a much better video than the YV offering to introduce the camera to its intended market i.e. to both potential and established Leica users. New and potential users are unlikely to be interested in wedding or studio photography so why push that in a video? Established Leica users are probably far more interested in landscape, architecture, and street photography ... and also its close-up capabilities.

 

These days with so many users participating on Ebay, photographers need a camera with a decent close-up capability which may rule out the X Vario as it only focuses to 30cm subject distance. A dedicated achromatic supplementary close-up lens would improve the camera's capability; I guess we will have to rely on third party offerings for same if any are available in 43mm fitting.

 

Five days from 11 June launch we still have not seen any videos showing the camera in use in real life non-studio situations to illustrate its true potential. We have Jono Slack's sample still pictures which are good ... but still relatively few. There must have been more than a few beta testers using the camera but the only one who appears to have published anything significant to illustrate the camera is Sean Reid - and you have to pay $$ to see his full review.

 

And little mention appears to have been made by Leica (or the so far few users) of the supplementary EVF which is an essential add-on for street photography.

 

The camera is not a lemon; it allegedly has excellent build quality and produces superb images - but so far we have seen little evidence within the accessible media to back up the claims.

 

The one lesson learnt from the camera's introduction is that for Leica, so far, its marketing has been a disaster. The initial rumours, started by Leica, hinting that this camera would be a 'Mini M' and all that 'Mini M' infers, proved to be total balderdash and and have left many existing Leica users cold and disillusioned. The slow striptease served only to exacerbate the disillusionment when the naked truth was finally revealed.

 

To sum up : Leica X Vario ... good camera ... shame about the misleading and incomplete marketing.

 

dunk

[lct]

Don't take it personally but i'm surprised at how many people feel competent enough to give advice to a centenary company like Leica in this good old forum. I know nothing about marketing but it sounds obvious that a camera like the X107 is not aimed at die-hard RF users like me in the first place. So i don't know if this "Mini M" ad has been well chosen for people supposed to buy the camera. All i can say is i regret the apparent semantic shift from M = Messsucher to M = Mirrorless which could appear like a bad omen for the rangefinder sustainability but aside from that, marketing is made to sell products and i've not yet read the least attempt of demonstration that the "Mini M" ad was poor from this viewpoint. I don't mind to learn more about this matter though.

[mjh]

All i can say is i regret the apparent semantic shift from M = Messsucher to M = Mirrorless which could appear like a bad omen for the rangefinder sustainability but aside from that, marketing is made to sell products and i've not yet read the least attempt of demonstration that the "Mini M" ad was poor from this viewpoint.

I wouldn’t read any deep significance into these Mini/Micro/Nano M labels since there is none. No semantic shift or whatever, just a ploy to get customers to associate the whole digital camera range, including even the Panaleicas, with the product Leica is most famous for. That’s kind of a standard strategy in marketing.

 

Leica didn’t say that ‘M’ stands for ‘mirrorless’ now, and last I looked they didn’t actually rename their cameras; the D-Lux 6 is still the D-Lux 6, not the Nano M.

[HV25]

No semantic shift or whatever, just a ploy to get customers to associate the whole digital camera range, including even the Panaleicas, with the product Leica is most famous for. That’s kind of a standard strategy in marketing.

 

 

Standard strategy in marketing ? Maybe. But is it a good one in this case ? Apart from the obvious attention this teaser campaign has generated what has been its effect ?

 

It would be interesting to know who they wanted to reach with this campaign. I think the way they used it the teaser campaign reached current Leica users or people who are aware of Leica and interested in the brand.

 

That being the case I think it's a fair guess to say that a lot of Leica users that saw this teaser were disappointed to find out about the product specifications once they were fully revealed.

 

Based on more than 20 years working in marketing I can tell you that it is a pretty risky approach to irritate or disappoint a high proportion of current users when launching a new product. Obviously Leica will see the effect their X Vario campaign had when they monitor the reaction and response closely enough. It will be interesting to see how they will continue to act.

 

... and at the end all that matters is sales.

[jonoslack]

That being the case I think it's a fair guess to say that a lot of Leica users that saw this teaser were disappointed to find out about the product specifications once they were fully revealed.

 

Based on more than 20 years working in marketing I can tell you that it is a pretty risky approach to irritate or disappoint a high proportion of current users when launching a new product.

... and at the end all that matters is sales.

 

I really agree with you. Whilst my initial response to the camera was that it wasn't for those frequenting Internet forums, I've begun to realise that in reality it's an analogue breath of fresh air which most of us can enjoy.

 

A delicate introduction stressing the IQ and the heritage of the Digilux 2, together with details of the lens design and reasoning would probably have served them much better. On the other hand I don't have 20 years experience in marketing, and maybe the furore will get more people interested than a more measured campaign.

 

The one thing I do know is that familiarity with the camera breeds content rather than contempt

[mjh]

Standard strategy in marketing ? Maybe. But is it a good one in this case ? Apart from the obvious attention this teaser campaign has generated what has been its effect ?

You would be in a better position to judge this than myself. I’m just your average jaded customer reluctant to believe in some marketing blurb. While I knew about the X Vario, the teaser campaign took me by surprise. I didn’t expect the typical M clientele to fall for it hook, line and sinker, though.

 

It would be interesting to know who they wanted to reach with this campaign. I think the way they used it the teaser campaign reached current Leica users or people who are aware of Leica and interested in the brand.

I don’t think the campaign targeted the M clientele, either specifically or at all, but then it may be difficult for Leica to reach the audience they intended to reach (as I am not privy to Leica’s marketing strategy these are all assumptions on my part).

[Guest badbob]

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How do you market an X Vario, and who do you target? Certainly not to people who are quite familiar with Leica, who like the brand, to whom the price isn't a barrier. You have to reach out to people who wouldn't buy if you didn't market to them, yes? How do you do that with an X Vario? Breakthrough size like the X1? No. Best image quality for the money? No. I'm familiar with Leica, I love the brand, and the $2850 price was not an obstacle. Not to say that I had $2850 to splurge on something I didn't need or would make productive - it just wasn't a major obstacle. As much as I liked Leica, and I didn't have a Leica camera since I sold my X1 6 months ago, and I couldn't justify an M9 with zoom lens, I saw the X Vario as something to fill that vacancy, and yet I struggled for awhile to make the buy decision. Now what I'm curious about is, what kind of marketing strategy other than making people like myself aware of the X Vario, and reminding former customers like me about how Leica is retaining high quality values while progressing technologically, can Leica be planning to sell the X Vario? I don't see anything that resembles marketing that would apply to this product.

[HV25]

A delicate introduction stressing the IQ and the heritage of the Digilux 2, together with details of the lens design and reasoning would probably have served them much better. On the other hand I don't have 20 years experience in marketing, and maybe the furore will get more people interested than a more measured campaign.

 

The one thing I do know is that familiarity with the camera breeds content rather than contempt

 

I think so too. Personally I felt quite confused by that teaser campaign. However, reading your excellent article about the camera I began to like it. Not sure I would find a need for it in addition or as replacement of what I currently have in terms of camera equipment but I became a lot clearer what would be the X Varios attraction having read your thoughts on it. And with this in mind I go on and continue to believe that Leica is a great company making great cameras and lenses. Which in return might get me thinking it's worth waiting for the new M I've ordered so long ago and am waiting for

[dwbell]

I've said enough on this on the main thread and will leave it at that.

[dkCambridgeshire]

Fact is there are many die-hard Leica M users who are very reluctant to accept a MINI M into the fold ... and they probably deem the whole new MINI M, MICRO M and NANO M divisions as sacrilegious - regardless of how Leica now define the meaning of 'M'. Old habits and perceptions are hard to change especially in a well proven product. Regardless of what Leica now perceive an 'M' camera to be, established and potential Leica users will always consider them to be 'M' mount' cameras which use interchangeable 'M' mount lenses - including pedigree lenses up to 60 years young which can still 'hold their own' performance wise against the opposition. Other manufacturers too acknowledge the 'M' mount with their 'M' compatible lenses and cameras; the 'M' concept is too big and too well established to dilute with smaller fixed lens camera - regardless of what Leica's marketeers would like us to believe and accept. There is already a consensus that the finest rangefinder camera ever made was the M3 - it's an icon from which spawned all subsequent Leica M rangefinder cameras. If Leica now want to move the goalposts and include 'diddy m cameras' as big boys' toys they risk upsetting their established and loyal customers who regard the 'M' series as the very pinnacle of rangefinder camera design.

 

There's not really much wrong with the XV camera apart from its inappropriate MINI M designation.

 

dunk