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Executive Summary

No longer the market leader in the instant photography realm, the Polaroid brand has become a
coveted icon; a brand with high appeal among its niche market but low familiarity outside of its
target audience. Due to its inability to keep up with the digital divide, Polaroid faced bankruptcy
in 2008 and announced that it would stop producing its infamous analog instant film. Polaroids
crash prompted a vigilante revival of the brand: photographers and collectors of vintage relics
searched far and wide for instant photography cameras and their iconic film. Recognizing that
Polaroid was still a coveted icon in the eyes of many, the company relaunched analog film
production along with a slew of new products including the Polaroid smartphone, with the goal
of bridging the digital divide.
The primary problem facing the Polaroid brand moving forward is that Polaroids
notoriety did not come from being a digital photography pioneer. Instead, the company assumed
that its intangible assets would push the brand forward. Today the brand evokes recall mainly
among older generations. Guaranteeing the brands longevity requires that Polaroid appeal to its
target customers: Millennials and female heads of household, while also connecting with the
youngest generation of digital natives, Generation Z.
Generation Z consumers range from ages 2 to 19 and are the most diverse and
multicultural generation to date. They are self-sufficient and practical, and they pride themselves
on being unique visionaries. Looking towards the future, it is necessary that Polaroid repositions
itself as a brand that gives its target consumers a feeling of uniqueness. As Polaroid ventures
into the business of mobile phones, tablets and smartphone apps, its major point of
differentiation will be its low phone price point: $150. The marketing communications strategy
for the following two years will emphasize the practicality and affordability of the Polaroid

smartphone and its uniqueness as the perfect starter technology for members of Generation Z, the
true digital natives.
Furthermore, the uniqueness attribute will be used to target loyal Polaroid fans who
continue to see value in the brand as a purveyor of photography and lifes special moments. The
marketing communications strategy will not only seek to drive sales of Polaroids digital
products but also to reinforce the core brands image. The ultimate goal for the Polaroid brand is
to re-build awareness in order to strike a balance between appeal and familiarity.

Messages
The brand must deliver messages that reinforce Polaroids sense of creativity, uniqueness,
innovation, and ability to capture and share the moment. Communications will rely heavily on
digital outlets due to the media usage of the target audience. In particular, social media will be
paramount in engaging the core audiences, and encouraging collaboration. Similarly, Polaroid
will tap into the user-generated content and become part of the conversation.
With so many photos being shared through online communities including Instagram,
VSCO Cam, Pinterest, and Facebook, it is difficult for brands to build brand loyalty. Polaroid
must build a community with its users, and provide them with a digital space to share their
#PolaroidPix with other Polaroid fans. Similar to the thriving community that the VSCO Cam
app has created around spectacular photography that tells a unique, authentic story, Polaroid
provide a space and proposition that adds value to the lives of its customers. Polaroid will invite
users to become part of the Polaroid story and focus on collaborative storymaking rather than
one-way storytelling.
Polaroid communicates with three main audiences: Generation Z and first-time
smartphone buyers, female heads of household who are focused on capturing special moments in

their childrens lives, and Millennials with high disposable incomes who live for fashion, culture,
and design. Each of the audiences are early adopters and they are influential among their peers.
Polaroids messages must encourage digital modernity, but also remind users of Polaroids knowhow with film cameras. The messages towards each target audience must be differentiated, while
still remaining relevant to the brand image as a whole.
Messages for Generation Z:
Tell your story
Stand out from the crowd
Messages for female heads of household:
Save your familys special moment
Messages for Millennials:
Re-doing retro, with Polaroid at your side
Polaroid, the original memory company

Issues
Polaroid gained popularity through innovation, but the company fell into the success trap, where
instead of moving forward with new products, they overestimated the strength of the brand. In
turn, Polaroid became obsolete. Polaroid is currently focused on digital devices, but has not yet
become a market leader in the smartphone and digital camera categories.
Polaroid has shifted focus to product extensions, such as tablets, televisions and
smartphones. While these extensions might create awareness of the Polaroid brand name, they
are not manufactured or pioneered by Polaroid. Joint alliances with device manufacturers have
resulted in products with inferior quality and a contrived sense of innovation.
Another issue was the companys misdirection in hiring ambassadors and endorsers to
support the brands standards and style. The company hired Lady Gaga as Creative Director, a

celebrity with no experience in the advertising field, or the time for it. It would have been less
costly for Polaroid to hire her as a celebrity endorser.
Lastly, in regards to Polaroids smartphone app, there is a severe lack of brand image or
purpose driving the app. It is set up to allow users to post pictures taken from their smartphones
in a format that appears as if it was taken with a Polaroid camera. However, Polaroid does not
emphasize its unique, vintage image, and it does not evoke a sense of community unlike its
competitors such as VSCO Cam and Instagram. The Polaroid app detracts from its core image
as a brand.

Marketing Communication Tactics


With a mere 37.8k followers on Instagram, social media, public relations, experiential
marketing, and community management as areas of immediate improvement for Polaroid. By
combining creative strategies with strategic niche marketing, Polaroid can exponentially enhance
its communication tactics while building brand persona.
Polaroids enhanced communication tool kit includes:
1. Polaroid Smartphone Endorsement: Young celebrity brand ambassadors to promote
Polaroids new smartphone to Generation Z. Celebrity endorsers will promote product giveaways
on their social media accounts and promote their photos taken using Polaroid smartphones.
Celebrities include Kendall Jenner, Elle Fanning, and Jaden Smith.
2. Experiential Marketing and Celebrity Product Placement: Polaroid Photobars, pop-up
stores, and celebrity product placement could be found at events such as: Coachella, SXSW,
Outsidelands, Governors Ball, Pitchfork, Lollapalooza, Afropunk, Art Basel, Sundance Film
Festival, and Armory Show. At Polaroid Photobars, consumers will be able to create visual
memories and print photos of their event experience. In addition, Polaroid pop-up stores would

sell film and digital cameras to event attendees. In the realm of product placement Alexa Chung
would act as Polaroids brand ambassador, subtly influencing attendees and social media
followers to buy Polaroid products.
3. Polaroid 365 Project: The Polaroid 365 Project encourages visual artists to create a visual
diary of their creative process and lives using Polaroid film for one year. The film photos would
then be scanned and converted to digital photos, which would be posted on social media and/or
blogs with the correlating hashtag #Polaroid365. Visual artists sponsored by Polaroid include
Shae Detar, Lili Holzer-Glier, Jessica Walsh, and Timothy Goodman. Sponsored artists would
encourage followers to participate in the challenge. Polaroid would then post fan photos on their
own Instagram feed. The most voted 365 Project would have a gallery exhibit open to the public
for free. The gallery event would be another addition to Polaroids experiential marketing tactics.
4. Polaroid Travel Journal: The Polaroid travel journal will infiltrate and detract from other
smartphone apps like Instagram and VSCO Cam by focusing on popular photography
influencers and bloggers. Polaroid will solicit these influencers to document their travel
experiences using Polaroid film. Each photo would be accompanied by a short memory of that
day. They would influence their followers to similarly participate and use a designated hashtag to
track submissions. The three submissions with the highest amount of likes and followers will
win a coffee table version of their travel journal printed by Polaroid. The first place winner will
win a surprise trip to a hip destination. Instagram influencers sponsored by Polaroid include
Justin Reade, Jeremy Snell, Ruthie Lindsey, and Dee Larson.

Program Evaluations
As Polaroid begins to develop and implement these suggested tactics and programs, they will
have to take into consideration how to accurately measure each tactic and its performance.

Polaroid must focus on creating content that is easily quantified and qualified. In addition to
analyzing the number of likes and follows on social media, Polaroid should track the
popularity of its hashtags. Polaroid could record where these users are from and what products
they use in an effort to gain data. This means of data collection directly correlates with consumer
desire and the number of users the product reaches. This will allow Polaroid to tailor programs
according to audience needs, wants, and preferences.
These suggested programs are all designed to create a symbiotic dialog between Polaroid
and its consumers as a collective, interactive community. These developments will assist in
fostering an inclusive brand environment dedicated to providing both Polaroid and its consumers
with feedback on programs and products.

Budget Considerations
Moving on, Polaroid will have to develop a flexible marketing budget with the ability to
encompass the companys marketing needs for all of its products. Specifically in the App and
mobile category, there will need to be money allocated to marketing overhead fees as well as one
time fees dedicated to celebrity endorsers. Another major fee Polaroid should allocate towards is
the purchase, use, and maintenance of traveling brand experience booths which will be featured
at pop up events, festivals, and trade shows. In order to revitalize Polaroids social media, funds
must also be allocated in order to hire someone who will be able to develop as well as maintain
Polaroids social media presence on all channels. Additional revenue must be allotted to cover
the celebrity product placement program, the experiential marketing program, Polaroid Travel
Journals, and the program evaluation plan. All of these factors much be addressed when creating
a budget for Polaroid in the future.

Conclusion
Much has changed in terms of communications practices from when Polaroid was last at its
height. Polaroid can no longer depend on brand knowledge to build equity, and will have to
actively engage in community building within its niche markets. We have prescribed a holistic
solution of social media, experiential marketing and below the line marketing activities aimed at
transforming Polaroids image from a dated brand to the pioneer of capturing lifes singular,
unique moments. The goal of the proposed marketing communications plan will be to re-instill
trust in the Polaroid brand as an authority on photography and the culture surrounding it in the
digital age.

References
Bartholomew, H. (2015, April 1). 365Grateful. Retrieved April 11, 2015, from http://365grateful.com/
He Took a Polaroid Everyday Until He Died. (2015, January 1). Retrieved March 17, 2015, from
http://mentalfloss.com/article/18692/he-took-polaroid-every-day-until-day-he-died
Polaroid (2015). Retreived from http://www.polaroid.com/history
The Impossible Project (2012). Retrieved from https://www.the-impossible-project.com/
VSCO Cam (2015). Journal. Retrieved from http://grid.vsco.co/journal/p/1

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