Special Edition: Leica CL ‘100 jahre bauhaus’

[Le Chef]

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I agree - it's not that good and it's never going to be that important. As I understand it all 150 of this version were sold before being announced so it's a bit of a moot point anyway.

[jaapv]

150 customers who liked it - I guess that is the whole story.

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[Marac]

Maybe an UPGRADE option like they done with the M8 -> M8.2....   

 

[caigy]

I would rather see Leica invest their time, intellectual capital and R&D to respond to current owners' needs, such as providing a lock for focus box location to keep it from accidentally wandering all over the screen (as opposed to the useless "lock all wheels and functions" option).  This has been discussed endlessly on this and other forums (which they supposedly read), and yet Leica is silent.  And while they're at it, adding a needed image stabilization system to a future CL2 (making the small but slow lenses more acceptable) would be very useful.    

By the way, regarding the hope for image stabilization in the future: I am watching very carefully to see what Sigma lenses will be offered in L-mount, particularly APS-C dedicated lenses (projected for 2020).  I bought my CL to use Leica optics, but the lenses are slow.  Sigma has a number of interesting fast lens offerings that will be even more interesting if re-tooled for APS-C (i.e smaller size if you don't have to cover full frame format).  I would rather buy future Leica lenses, but without image stabilization I'm reluctant to invest more into Leica slow lenses.

Adding custom or special editions enables Leica to add significant profitability at almost no investment cost.  How about using some of that added profit to improve the product, rather than just dressing it up in fancier clothing?

Edited May 23, 2019 by caigy
spelling

[IkarusJohn]

They probably have read these suggestions, and considered them ...

[Le Chef]

8 hours ago, IkarusJohn said:

They probably have read these suggestions, and considered them ...

As I understand it we will know soon enough.

[jaapv]

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23 hours ago, caigy said:

I would rather see Leica invest their time, intellectual capital and R&D to respond to current owners' needs, such as providing a lock for focus box location to keep it from accidentally wandering all over the screen (as opposed to the useless "lock all wheels and functions" option).  This has been discussed endlessly on this and other forums (which they supposedly read), and yet Leica is silent.  And while they're at it, adding a needed image stabilization system to a future CL2 (making the small but slow lenses more acceptable) would be very useful.    

By the way, regarding the hope for image stabilization in the future: I am watching very carefully to see what Sigma lenses will be offered in L-mount, particularly APS-C dedicated lenses (projected for 2020).  I bought my CL to use Leica optics, but the lenses are slow.  Sigma has a number of interesting fast lens offerings that will be even more interesting if re-tooled for APS-C (i.e smaller size if you don't have to cover full frame format).  I would rather buy future Leica lenses, but without image stabilization I'm reluctant to invest more into Leica slow lenses.

Adding custom or special editions enables Leica to add significant profitability at almost no investment cost.  How about using some of that added profit to improve the product, rather than just dressing it up in fancier clothing?

One doesn't exclude the other, those are different teams. BTW, there are users that find "lock all wheels" practical.

[Volbeat]

On 5/19/2019 at 1:31 AM, Le Chef said:

It should be self evident, but obviously not. The point here is not Leica’s history of product excellence but what diminishes that intent. You add value to a brand through enhancements that consumers see as valuable, not diminish it. Functional improvements add value, flimsy special editions are hooey. If Leica paid more marketing attention to growing it’s consumer base with real product enhancement - even why Leica eschews complicated interfaces for example - this would make the brand more appealing. There are easy enough tests for brands to establish when they should do special editions and what those special editions should align to, but with Leica this seems to be more along the lines of “someone had an idea, let’s run with it” rather than asking the question as to how does this increase value, grow the customer base, or retain customers. The challenge is today, not what Leica did in the past.

Bonjour Le Chef,

Marketing is mostly about positioning the brand in the mind of the (prospective) consumer and has little to do with 'real product enhancement'. That's the remit of engineering or R & D.

The objectively best supplier is very rarely the most successful (in capitalisation) company in any field. Specsavers is far from the best optician in the UK but they are the best at marketing their services. McDonalds is not the best restaurant but they sell more burgers worldwide than anyone else. Ford build unremarkable cars but sell many times more than their superior performing competitors.

Leica, in this case, have added value by making a special edition in that it is a Limited run so it has rarity value. That is an objective fact. And there will be enough people who quite liked the CL but not enough to part with cash who have an interest in Bauhaus design and will find the new version more appealing. That is totally subjective.

Actually I'm struggling to think of examples of any world class manufacturer running special editions that seriously damaged their brand/ standing/ reputation or shareholder value. There have been many little stumbles but what great falls?

What example are you thinking of?

The only marketing mis-step that I would criticise Leica for in recent years is rebranding Panasonic compacts and selling them as their own. That was a very risky move but seems to have served them well enough.

Otherwise, maybe you and I as marking professionals would be wiser to watch and learn rather than stick the boot in?

Cheers,

Volbeat MBA

[Le Chef]

8 hours ago, Volbeat said:

Bonjour Le Chef,

Marketing is mostly about positioning the brand in the mind of the (prospective) consumer and has little to do with 'real product enhancement'. That's the remit of engineering or R & D.

The objectively best supplier is very rarely the most successful (in capitalisation) company in any field. Specsavers is far from the best optician in the UK but they are the best at marketing their services. McDonalds is not the best restaurant but they sell more burgers worldwide than anyone else. Ford build unremarkable cars but sell many times more than their superior performing competitors.

Leica, in this case, have added value by making a special edition in that it is a Limited run so it has rarity value. That is an objective fact. And there will be enough people who quite liked the CL but not enough to part with cash who have an interest in Bauhaus design and will find the new version more appealing. That is totally subjective.

Actually I'm struggling to think of examples of any world class manufacturer running special editions that seriously damaged their brand/ standing/ reputation or shareholder value. There have been many little stumbles but what great falls?

What example are you thinking of?

The only marketing mis-step that I would criticise Leica for in recent years is rebranding Panasonic compacts and selling them as their own. That was a very risky move but seems to have served them well enough.

Otherwise, maybe you and I as marking professionals would be wiser to watch and learn rather than stick the boot in?

Cheers,

Volbeat MBA

I’m not going to comment further other than to say I completely disagree.

[stephengv]

Will this limited edition increase the value of the camera in case of re-sell?