Things Change: The Rise and Fall of Kodak
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“You press the button, we do the rest,” was Kodak’s slogan in 1888. The company was founded by George Eastman a few years earlier and would become a global behemoth in the world of cameras and film. In a way, it was like the Instagram of the 1800s.
They didn’t just make photography accessible to the masses, they were in the thick of things during WW1. Kodak provided the US military with photographic supplies, crucial for intelligence and documenting events during the war. At the forefront of innovation, the company also advanced aerial photography, an emerging field.
The company survived the Great Depression of 1929. However, the founder, George Eastman, did not. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart in 1932.
When WW2 rolled around, Kodak’s scientists contributed to the Manhattan Project, and the company supplied the Allies with X-ray film (used for medical purposes) and lenses for military equipment (like binoculars and gun sights).
Fast forward two decades, and the company jumped from war to space. In 1969, Kodak's specially designed film captured the first images of the Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon. They even got involved with the Hubble Space Telescope and the cameras used on the Mars rovers in the 90s.
The company was at its peak of crushing it between the 70s and 90s. It employed over 145,000 people globally and accounted for over 80% of film and camera sales in America. It was one of the most recognisable brands in the world. The phrase "Kodak moment" was as well known as “Just do it”.
But in the late 90s, the digital revolution thundered in like a wrecking ball. Digital photography replaced film, and smartphones replaced cameras. Ironically, the company literally invented the first digital camera way back in 1975, but then thought, “Nah, let’s not do that”, fearing it could cannibalise its traditional business.
Ultimately, like the Titanic failing to change course, the company couldn’t adapt to the changing world and filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
In the game for over 100 years, Kodak survived two world wars and a global economic meltdown and helped humans explore the moon and Mars. Like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, it was one of the most recognisable brands in the world.
And within only a few years, it was gone.
The moral of the story:
Change is coming. Don’t be a Kodak.
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This was an interesting read! Especially since I recently took out my mother's old analogue camera and am trying to get it back to life :P
One thing though: I still see camera films under the "Kodak" brand being bought and sold by analogue camera enthusiasts. Do you know if those all old stock, or did the company somehow get resurrected into a lesser version of itself after bankruptcy, like Nokia did?