Kevin Hsia

PRAD 551
Final Project



Background Impossible Project
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Strong niche brand presence
Loyal customers
The first and only company to reinvent
polaroid film technology
First mover advantage on a niche market
Part of a strong community of artists and
dabblers surrounding brand
Crowd sourced and user-generated images
with product line constantly shared
Added camera and accessories line (Instant
Lab and battery-less cartridge)
The Polaroid Classic range (reintroduction
of classic Polaroid films)
Weaknesses
Film is intrinsically experimental cant
guarantee exact results
High price points

Opportunities
Film is intrinsically experimental
Changing photography market people
want to be unique.
Branded Camera
Threats
Competitors Fujifilm and Lomography
have moved into the instant film space
with new products
Advances in digital imaging can potentially
render analog experimentation obsolete

Kevin Hsia
PRAD 551
Final Project


Brand Audit
Impossible Project has been leveraging competencies in film and paper media, analog camera
technology. Since starting in 2008, the company purchased a defunct Polaroid plant in the Netherlands,
making a home for operations. Impossible Project is now known as a leader in instant film photography
and hardware worldwide. Its journey in less than a decade has shown remarkable growth and
understanding of its niche positioning and unique offering to a changing photography climate. Steady
organizational changes in processing, marketing, and product development have helped increase the
speed of manufacturing and product development. Secondly, a strength could be also considered
Impossible Projects favorable corporate image (and implicitly a significant brand equity) that results
from the values which have been successfully supported by a fierce niche loyalty from fans. The
companys origins as a startup with an ambitious dream of reviving Polaroid saw global support. More
importantly, people saw that the company was aligned with the goals of continually improving, renewal,
and celebration of lifes simpler pleasures. Management recognized immediately that the company
couldnt exist without its diehard fans, so Impossible Project has maintained a strong commitment to
the community around their products and vision.
Strategy
Brand awareness and sales that reaches the versatile and worldly photographer is the ultimate
marketing objective for IP. IP wants to represent ease of use, openness, fun, and overall inspiration. IP
appeals to creative consumers who are interested in creating art, either as a professional or amateur. By
harnessing a youthful culture, the creative options entice the consumer to invest more in IP products.
Hence, after the first purchase, IPs goal is to create a repeat customer as well reinforce a co-creation
relationship, encouraging consumers to share back to the community.
In terms of where IP stand on the FCB Grid, IP is a high feeling and medium to low involvement, landing
on the far right of the grid. This means that IPs strategy to vertically integrate processes combined with
continuous innovation and product development yields products that encourage habitual use: Film runs
out and fans need to consistently be able to buy and try new film packs. For consumers, purchase
decisions are more than impulse the film is expensive, and often needs to be justified. However,
targeting film users that want to push their film experimentation to the limits can be easily justified by
position IP as the exact product to help them. Photographers that are not film-focused can see that their
final mastery of the art form cannot be complete without IP. The demographic outside of this group can
enjoy making art with ease.
IPs product is a suite of color and black and white film, as well as exclusive reintroductions of limited
edition Polaroid productions. Accessories and cameras are also an added advantage. By repurposing
nostalgia and appreciation for older analog technology, IP has successfully created value around
Kevin Hsia
PRAD 551
Final Project

something that was once overlooked. The success of Instagram in the past 4 have helped propel both
camera and phone artists to seek the original InstagramPolaroids.
Competition-wise, IP is facing pressures from Fujifilms wildly successful Instax camera. The branded
instant camera has seen a successor in the Instax Mini 90. Lomography recently announced an instant
camera in development that uses Instax film. IP has yet to release a branded camera.
The opportunity to market to photographers is immense. Targeting the niche or fringes of consumers
will be a key advantage to Impossible. Ultimately, advertising will convince photographers that
Impossible Film is the best at preserving moments because it can make a good photographer a
better photographer.
Selling Line
Make the impossible, possible.
Striking a chord with youth, adventure, and daring to be different, IPs selling line will allow people to
challenge their surroundings visually to create their own stories.