Advertising
and the Kodak Brownie
by Norwood Teague
"Plant
the Brownie Acorn and see the Kodak Oak grow."
Probably
no one knows how the idea of the Brownie Camera entered George
Eastman's head. It could have been in the success he saw in the
small, relatively inexpensive ($5.00) Pocket Kodak Camera of 1895
with the non-curl (NC), daylight loading roll film. How he hit
upon the idea of using Palmer Cox's Brownies as the icon for a
new camera is anybody's guess. The fact that Eastman's idea was
to produce an inexpensive camera that anyone, including children,
could operate might have been the spark of the ideas to use an
icon that was already very popular with children and adults alike.
Published in the monthly, St. Nicholas Magazine, and in booklets
the little Scottish elfin figures were quite familiar in the United
States and Canada.
The
first ingredients were in place -- simplicity, reliability, inexpensive
and with a recognizable icon. Eastman was already aware of the
power of communications. With the introduction of the first Brownie
Camera he chose publications to advertise in with a wide ranging
audience: Young peoples magazines, such as The Youth's Companion,
Boy's Life and American Boy, and family/adult magazines, such
as McLure's Magazine, Ladies Home Companion and Cosmopolitan.
And, of course, The Kodak Trade Circular which was sent to dealers.
With
the Tag Line -- "Any Schoolboy or Girl can Make Good Pictures
with the Brownie Camera"-- here are some excerpts from magazine
ads:
"The
care-free hours of childhood are kept forever with a BROWNIE Any
child can make the picture -- every operation as plain as day."
"Everyday
scenes at home are easy to preserve with a BROWNIE CAMERA So simple
a child can make good pictures from the start -- so efficient
it satisfies big folks."
To
get the young folks further hooked, there was The Brownie Camera
Club:
"THE
BROWNIE CAMERA CLUB
Every
boy and girl under sixteen years of age should join the Brownie
Camera Club. Fifty Kodaks, valued at over $500.00, will be given
to the club as prizes for the best picture made with Brownie Cameras
and every member of the club will be given a copy of our Photographic
Art Brochure. No initiation fees or dues if you own a Brownie.
Ask your dealer or write us for a Brownie Camera Club Constitution."
"Ask
your dealer..." The Kodak Trade Circulars was the way the Company
informed their dealers and promoted their ideas. Here are a couple
of excerpts:
"...a
dealer can afford to push BROWNIE sales for the business that
will come afterwards.."
"School
boys and school girls are beginning to look forward with eager
interest to the long vacation. Photography is a game that both
can play at; can be interested in. Their youthful enthusiasm makes
them good customers. It is frequently "catching." The boy buys
a BROWNIE, and first we know "pater" buys a KODAK -- another family
is on your list of regular film customers."
Make
it a "GAME" and it will be "CATCHING." Don't forget that Kodak
is in the business of selling FILM! So, promote -- advertise.
Eastman knew long before The Field of Dreams -- as long as you
let them know -- that
"If you build it..... They will come."
