The Power of Suggestion

Forget focus groups. These days, big brands are all involving customers in all stages of the marketing process

Deliver Magazine, December 1, 2007 — Whenever Jeff Hayzlett, chief business development officer and vice president at Eastman Kodak Company, goes into retail printer outlets, he’s struck by an absurdity that has become the norm in his industry: In many stores, rows of inkjet printers sit out on open shelves for all to see and touch — while the small ink cartridges that are used to fuel them are secured behind locked cabinets.

As obvious and wrongheaded a message as this sends — that the costly cartridges are more valued than the printers themselves — Hayzlett says consumers have been saying as much for years. Incredibly, he says, many in the industry still aren’t paying attention.

“Our customers were very clear in telling us they were fed up with the cost of inkjet consumables,” Hayzlett says. “People are printing their kids’ artwork in draft mode because they’re afraid to use too much ink.”

Not only was Kodak listening, says Hayzlett; the company relied heavily on its customers — seeking their advice in research studies and in online consumer communities — to help drive one of its biggest business decisions in 2007, its choice to wade into the already crowded printer market.