Kodak's Image Is Picture Perfect
December 01, 2008
Jeffrey Hayzlett upgrades Kodak's image for the digital age
By Jeremy Cohen
Even if you don't run in the same professional circles as Jeffrey Hayzlett, odds are pretty good you've seen his face before. Especially if you're a fan of The Donald.
Loyal viewers of Celebrity Apprentice, Mr. Trump's reality TV juggernaut, no doubt will recognize Hayzlett from an episode that aired last January. As Eastman Kodak Company's chief business development officer and vice president, he was on hand as a corporate ambassador—passing judgment on the efforts of Stephen Baldwin, Gene Simmons, Tito Ortiz and other luminaries to highlight Kodak as a leading producer of inkjet printing products.
But while notably high profile, the TV appearance was just one of numerous initiatives Hayzlett's spearheaded in the service of Kodak's reinvention … an effort that had been a long time in coming.
You see, even a company as iconic as the 120-year-old film vanguard isn't immune to the changing times—particularly when the very product it built its reputation upon becomes viewed as obsolete. And starting in the 1990s, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company found itself facing that very predicament, as the digital revolution threatened to send film the way of the dinosaurs.
"We were kind of a victim of our own success," says Hayzlett. "We had one of the most successful companies in the world based on a more
traditional technology. Now, that traditional technology's still good today—it's just that not as many people use it. A real pendulum shift had to occur."
Predating Hayzlett's tenure with the company, that shift already had been set into motion. In an effort to transition from a film- to a digital-based business model, Kodak was in the process of reducing its workforce more than 50% worldwide and closing a number of its existing facilities. At the same time, it also was acquiring companies that ultimately would allow it to refocus its offerings in the digital imaging and printing realms.
Prior to joining Kodak in 2006, Hayzlett had operated his own private business development and public relations firm—Hayzlett & Associates, Inc.—specializing in the technology and visual communications industries. "I've had a long connection with Kodak, for about 20 to 25 years," he recounts. "During that transition, I was representing some of the companies Kodak bought. And so it was natural for me to come onboard and help out.
"On top of that, it's probably one of the most iconic companies in the world, and if you're a marketer, to be able to work with a brand name like Kodak is a dream come true."
Initially, Hayzlett was named chief marketing officer and vice president for the company's Graphic Communications Group. "This was a new division," he explains. "We spent about $3 billion purchasing companies in that particular area to build up that piece of the business, which is now about one-third of the total business revenue for Kodak and a strategic part of our go-to-market activity today."
Rest assured, he's not overstating the strategic importance aspect. "We have roughly 19 products, 11 of which account for about 70% of our total product base," Hayzlett says. "Half of our product lines didn't even exist four years ago." In line with those rollouts, Kodak increasingly has shifted its focus from the consumer to the business-to-business sector (some 60% of Kodak's business worldwide is now B2B).
In late 2007, Hayzlett assumed the newly established position of chief business development officer. "I think a lot of people call it the CMO on steroids," he jokes. "It has the components of business development, as well as marketing. In addition to that, we also have public affairs and corporate communications."
Elaborating further: "In part of the transformation, each group was focused on the things it did well. And so, we needed to bring in someone who took a more holistic and broader view, in addition to our executive leadership for the company.
"Some 60% of the people who are with us today weren't with us four years ago," he continues. "One of the things we've done to anticipate that growth is to put forth some operating principles that lots of new people can understand—and lots of the folks who have been here, who built the company to where it was as these new people stepped in—so we could all start to work together with a common language. We call that FAST, which stands for focus, accountability, simplicity and trust."
What's in a Name?
Whereas the Kodak name and brand essentially stood alone in the pre-digital era, it now has to stake its place alongside other established tech players. Which raises one very good question: Just what defines and differentiates the Kodak brand in 2008?
"It's a trusted brand—it's a quality brand," Hayzlett responds. "At the same time, you have to make that brand more relevant for today. That's a big part of what we're doing.
"We're taking it back to the original premise of what company founder George Eastman said when he brought out the first mass-market camera: 'You press the button, we do the rest.' Well, that's the way in which we want you to view our products. All you need to do is trust Kodak, and Kodak will take you to this digital age."
As part of the company's strategy for reconnecting with those customers, Hayzlett recently created two new positions of note: a director of convergence media and a chief blogger. The former is responsible for integrating traditional and digital marketing activities into a comprehensive strategy, as opposed to merely repurposing print content for the Web. "You need someone who's concentrating on that convergence of various media," says Hayzlett. "And then, how do you take your key messages in your campaigns and utilize those in a very efficient manner? That's a great way to leverage the fewer and fewer dollars marketers have available to them today."
The chief blogger administers three official Kodak blogs—most notably, the award-winning A Thousand Words, in which employees share posts on all things imaging-related with the public. "We put together a chief blogger much like we would do a chief editor in a newspaper," says Hayzlett. "This is someone we wanted to be out in the medium that we thought was going to be very, very hot, and it's proven to be so."
Respect Your Elders
By the way, lest you think Kodak's embrace of the future is tantamount to an "out-with-the-old" directive, think again: According to Hayzlett, film's obituary is being written prematurely. "There's always going to be a role for film," he says. "Digital doesn't capture as much as film does. There's a belief by cinematographers and some professional photographers around that this art form can't be duplicated by digital." In other words, despite its lessened importance, don't expect Kodak to wash its hands of the product that made its name.
The same sentiment applies to print, a medium Hayzlett strongly supports. So much so, in fact, that he initiated the "Print Is …" ad campaign and its accompanying Website (www.printambassador.com) to promote its continued viability to marketers, commercial printers and other audiences. "It's not going away," he affirms. "Paper's not going away. Print's not going away—though the way in which we use it will change, without question.
"Print's just hugely effective as a marketing media," he continues. "Direct mail today is still on the rise. And the reason for that: It's effective. Because it's a non-intrusive media where people are accustomed to it and expect it, and you can tailor-make messages."
 Spreading the Word
Hayzlett also has made some fairly bold changes in Kodak's sponsorship activities, the most striking of which was discontinuing its longtime sponsorships of the Olympic Games. Other notable sporting events have filled that gap, including the newly introduced PGA Tour Kodak Challenge.
"As we make the message and brand more relevant, it shifts where we want to spend the money, and also affects the timing of that spend," says Hayzlett. "While we love the Olympics, and love our history with the Olympic activity, waiting every two years or four years for a major event was difficult for us in terms of activation. We needed things that have a greater consistency to them."
And lending credence to the old expression, "If you want something done right, do it yourself," Hayzlett's proven more than willing to put his own face out there in promotion of the Kodak brand. In addition to his frequent speaking appearances around the globe, he's become something of a television fixture—you may have caught one of his guest spots on Fox Business News or CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.
But as noted earlier, it was a cameo on a certain NBC show that's garnered him the most mainstream exposure to date. "The Celebrity Apprentice thing came about just from an idea," Hayzlett recalls. "We needed to do some more things to raise the awareness about our new consumer inkjet opportunities."
This led Hayzlett to reach out to Donald Trump, with whom he'd had an existing acquaintanceship. At the time, the latter had no plans to do another season of his mega-popular Apprentice show. "[Trump] put me into touch with Mark Burnett and the producers," Hayzlett recalls. "They started pitching me on some other opportunities. And then, at the last minute, they pitched the Celebrity Apprentice—that became a reality. It was a great thing for us to tie into." Though he wasn't at liberty to share specifics, Hayzlett hints that other TV opportunities may be coming down the pike.
Of course, as Kodak looks toward the future, it does so against the increasingly ominous backdrop of the economic downturn. Hayzlett doesn't gloss over the challenges ahead, but neither does he lack confidence in Kodak's ability to navigate them.
"Most companies are buckling down for what we think might be a fairly tough year, given the state of the economy," he says. "But good companies always will thrive, and good companies that bring out great products always will be in demand.
"I always like to joke, it's not the warmest place in Rochester. The good news about that is, we stay inside and invent a lot of things."
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