omg birthday party

[sean_reid]

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Folks, you got Leica wrong here. The obvious purpose of this ad is not to sell more cameras, which it clearly won't to, but to educate the world about birthday parties in Germany. Note the following points:

 

Kids do not laugh or otherwise ostensibly enjoy themselves. Instead, they cry or stare at the photographer (which is probably a function of the alien IR filter which mom's P&S did not have).

 

Main activities are sack races and the famous German "egg race" where the kids have to balance an egg (cooked or, even better, raw) on a spoon and move over a defined distance as quickly as possible. When they drop it, they have to start over again (makes them cry, see above).

 

To avoid that the pictures display any brands, labels are carefully removed from the bottles by more moms before the party (for those with a keen interest in German drinks other than beer, these are probably BIONADE bottles).

 

For lack of a legal system that allows you to sue moms pulling on children's arms, moms pull on children's arms which makes them cry, see above.

 

Anyone interested sending their kids over for a birthday party? No? Thought so.

 

Cheers, Rembert

 

That's a wonderful first post! Great eye for detail.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[rembi]

Thanks, Larry. To make up for those bad memories, I'll buy you a beer (or a Bionade) when you come visiting!

 

(To all those feeling deprived because they had to attend German-style birthday parties in their childhood: the offer is strictly limited to Larry!)

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[larry]

Thanks, Rembert. The next time I'm in Germany I'll take you up on the offer. But I'll be sure that it's not on my birthday to avoid any further psychological damage.

 

Larry

[johnwolf]

It's marketing puff. You don't believe this is a true story surely <grin>

 

Completely agree. And what odd positioning. From a poor compact to $7,000 family photo rig.

 

Are single moms like Ms Engelhardt really Leica's new target market? To Ms. E's credit, she sure mastered the RF non-AF thing faster than I did.

 

John

[Richard.no]

My thougts as well. The story is all made up, but it is clever:

* Catch independent thinking women (no offense, ladies) with thick wallets

* NOT using a man's story. After all, they want the irrational, gear head men to go on purchasing the Noctilux' and Summilux'.

 

Funnily, I still go on lusting for the lux and the noct, no matter how good that Summarit might be. Maybe I should send my girlfriend to the dealer??!

 

It's marketing puff. You don't believe this is a true story surely <grin>

[luigi bertolotti]

EH EH EH... not so bad, after all... they try to reach A TARGET... people that simply know that "leica makes good cameras" so, when happens that one decides to buy a camera, nothing strange if a kind dealer proposes a M8... and then, having tried to make a double strike mentioning even the Noctilux...(oh, well, the Summilux just in case...) well, closes the deal with an incredibly cheap lens .. that proves good in the "birthday test" ! . I do not know the real marketing impact of such stories... surely is funny for many of us (me included) to whom it seems surrealistic that a people simply enter a shop, asks for a "camera" and soon after goes out with a M8, Summarit or not... damn, how this can happen? Maybe he/she doesn't even know anything about Barnack, the Elmar, the M3...!!!

 

Anyway... something strange in all the story... why so insisting on the fact they are an unmarried couple ? (sorry, we Italians of Roman Catholic heritage are always sensitive to this question... ) Why insisting on the Summarit, while the real important fact is that she bought a M8 ? And the allusion to her boyfriend photo gear as "vacuum" ?

 

Anyway :

1) I hope they haven't invested too much Leica money for this ad.

2) My birthday pic (previosly posted) is NICER ! (and the Summicron 35 of '61 I used can cost less than a new Summarit....)

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[LUF Admin]

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I'm afraid it's her:

A. Engehardt-Markenkonzepte GmbH

 

Difficult to translate - but her job seems to be brand marketing

 

The brands she owns are:

 

- Downing Street No. 10 (London, England, you know)

- Longhitter (golf brand, including the fabulous offer "Longhitter makes an unbeatable offer - become a longhitter" - translation by me, original is that bad)

- Ballermann - beach of Mallorca capital Palma, known for un-responsibly drinking...

 

Fits perfect...

 

The German version of the article is very - um - funny too. In the German section a Engelhardt fan club is about to launch ;-)

 

Best regards

 

Andreas

[Eoin]

On reading this testimonial, I was reminded IIRC of the interview Steven Lee gave to LFI where he identified the target market they would pitch the M8 at apart from the loyal M users. Again I think he mentioned well to do families and in particular women. Strange indeed, marketing is obviously following on from his vision.

[hankg]

maybe just some shots from annie leibowitz, andreas gursky, david LaChapelle, peter Lindbergh....etc.......or Ellen von Unwerth instead of Mrs.Engelhardt.

if leica can convince people with that kind of quality.

 

None of those photographers or their work are associated with 35mm rangefinder cameras digital or film. Large production shoots with a truck load of strobes and assistants is not exactly the M's forte. I could see them selling for Hasselblad or Mamiya but not the M.

 

I'm sure the agency had a target demographic in mind for the promotion / narrative. I just am not feeling it - as a compelling narrative or as a pitch for the camera.

 

Leica has an embarrassment of riches in terms of iconography, photographers and narratives to mine to tell the brands story. But then, I'm not doing their creative. If this works for them, great. In any case, I'm more interested in what their engineers are doing then what the marketing department is up to.

[charlesphoto99]

Most likely mom is tearing her hair out learning to focus a rangefinder for the first time at a childrens birthday party. Yeah its the made up cheesiness that grates. Plus its sexist in its cliches (to both genders). I think there's a lot of great photographer out there doing real work that would be great for promotion (I think none of the aforementioned though are really applicable). I think this truly shows leicas conservatism.

[Kent10D]

Judging from the buzz being generated around here I'd say the ad is working!

 

Advertising doesn't necessarily have to be "right" to be effective, you know. As long as it leaves you with the name "Leica" bouncing around the inside of your head it works. You forget about the ad, walk into a camera store a few months or even years later, open your mouth and the word "Leica" bounces out.

 

Simple!

[jaapv]

None of those photographers or their work are associated with 35mm rangefinder cameras digital or film. Large production shoots with a truck load of strobes and assistants is not exactly the M's.

OK. Eva Besnyo then?

[hankg]

On reading this testimonial, I was reminded IIRC of the interview Steven Lee gave to LFI where he identified the target market they would pitch the M8 at apart from the loyal M users. Again I think he mentioned well to do families and in particular women. Strange indeed, marketing is obviously following on from his vision.

 

That's all well and good, but well to do and female is a bit to generic a market for a camera like the M8. You would have to add one more qualifier. You would have to have more then a passing interest in photography to want a manual focus rangefinder that requires special filters and shooting in RAW mode.

 

So pitching the M8 as a sort of lux high quality point and shoot simpler to use and more elegant then a DSLR is a bit far fetched. Maybe German kids move a lot less at a party then kids anywhere else, but I doubt it. Imagine a novice manual focus, rangefinder user shooting a kids party as their initiation to the new camera. They would be looking at a compact DSLR the next day.

 

For the non-M audience you need to sell the raison d'etre for the camera -the rangefinder- for it to be a value added and desirable feature worth learning to use.

[luigi bertolotti]

... At least, I hope the "Engelhard ad" shall bring more WOMEN in the forum... their presence continues to be terribly low...

[sean_reid]

On reading this testimonial, I was reminded IIRC of the interview Steven Lee gave to LFI where he identified the target market they would pitch the M8 at apart from the loyal M users. Again I think he mentioned well to do families and in particular women. Strange indeed, marketing is obviously following on from his vision.

 

I thought the same thing as I was reading it.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[sean_reid]

... At least, I hope the "Engelhard ad" shall bring more WOMEN in the forum... their presence continues to be terribly low...

 

Actually, I'm curious as to how the various women on the forum see this ad.

 

Cheers,

[Stuart Richardson]

I thought her photos were pretty great for someone who just transitioned to the camera...assuming the story and everything are true. In any case, people in this thread have said that, "anyone can take great pictures with the M8", and Leica is perhaps indicating this too. I am sorry, but I have to side with the boyfriend! The only evidence you need is to look on this or other forums. No offense meant, but there is a lot of bad photography being done with the M8...just like there is a lot of bad photography being done with every camera ever made. The M8 is certainly not a just pick it up and start shooting camera unless you are already familiar with rangefinders AND digital. If you are, then it is pretty easy, otherwise there is a fairly steep learning curve. I would think that the D-Lux cameras were meant to serve this market...or even the digilux 2 and 3. Those were largely bought by people who associated the brand Leica with great cameras and so got them. Little did they know (in most cases) that they were buying panasonics. In any case, the M8 is superb and I am not saying that women (god forbid) or novices should not use it...just that it is a camera for someone serious about photography. If you are not, you can buy a 4500 dollar necklace that looks much nicer and use the remaining 500 bucks to get a decent point and shoot and just leave it on P.

 

And by the way, I should add that I know multiple women who use the Leica absolutely brilliantly. One of my favorite photographers is Martine Franck who unfortunately is typecast at times because she was HCB's wife. She is a fantastic photographer...her shot of the swimming pool with the man in the hammock is every bit as good as anything HCB did.

[Venkman]

Folks, you got Leica wrong here. The obvious purpose of this ad is not to sell more cameras, which it clearly won't to, but to educate the world about birthday parties in Germany. Note the following points: [...]

 

and in addition to these very valid points :

 

German Moms have a time machine which allows them to warp back in time AFTER their vendor sold them the new, mostly unavailable lenses, in order to have a birthday party in SUMMER.

 

Or, these shots were taken in late autumn out in the cold, which would explain the pissed off faces of the little ones

[wattsy]

German Moms have a time machine which allows them to warp back in time AFTER their vendor sold them the new, mostly unavailable lenses, in order to have a birthday party in SUMMER.

 

My thoughts exactly. I can't understand why anyone would have thought that there is anything truthful at all about this piece of marketing guff. The whole thing is quite obviously a set-up lifestyle shoot.

 

Personally, I think it is ludicrous that Leica are trying to market the M8+Summarits to wealthy happy snappers (male or female). The camera is far too much of a pain in the arse and totally the wrong kind of camera for this market sector (beyond a tiny niche - some of whom post here). When the new CEO talked about pushing the brand out to 'Soccer Moms' I think most of us assumed he meant selling overpriced re-badged point and shoots. Have M8 sales started falling off that much?

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Hallo,

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[luigi bertolotti]

Ehm, frankly the issue of SEASON emerged in my mind too... Summarits are in the shops from not before November (in Italy, not yet today...) , this Ms. Engelhard has bought M8 + Summarit "at a dealer's" : test or preproduction items are excluded... such a simple sale story... and such a sunny day with such clothes in November ?