This is just for the M family of products, I am ignoring all of the other lines and going to focus on the M.
Stop spending money on print add, it costs too much. Most everyone over 30 years old, who might buy a Leica, knows about Leica and so there is little reason to spend money there. Professional photographers, well-healed amateurs know what’s up.
The Leica newsletter I get from email has under whelmed me.
The class on the M8 should be free to owners and $250 for potential buyers. Give away a free IR filter coupon for everyone who attends.
Keep up with photo shows, you need hands on time the professionals and this is one way to get it. Leica days at dealers should be costing you next to nothing, keep them up too.
You had a fun screen saver for the Leica M, make a new one that covers the LTM cameras through the M8. Make it for Mac and Windows. It’s cute, it’s fun and it costs almost nothing to do. If you want to make it really cool, make it so people can add their own Leica pictures into it between cameras. Now that would grab some attention.
With a two pronged approach, I would focus on one market, the new photographers. Those in school for photography, be it photojournalism, artistic, what ever.
The first approach is to leverage the old Leica School of Photography. Make a web-based course that covers all of the topics in this great program. It is 30 years old, so it needs some updating for new technologies (metering in the M, AE, yes you must include the R system in it). You might want to develop sections on other families of Leica photo products, but focus on the M and the R first. Make it web technology based so it can run from your site, be downloaded completely to a server in a school or burned to a CD (perhaps DVD) of a user for free. Do not focus on selling your products. Focus on how to use your products better and how to use other people products better. Make better photographers and tell them why Leica is better while you do it.
The next prong is on contests. Run regional contest for college juniors and seniors (4 in the US) and give away a MP or M7 and two lenses (any 2 ‘Crons or Elmars they want). Engrave the contest, date and their signature on the top. You have to build the next generation of photographers’ loyalty and desire. This would be a great way. Use some of the Photographers who use Leica cameras a judges, get their names in the spotlight and you have a triple win (students, Leica and the judges).
While I would love to say fund a contest here (RFF), I’m not sure of the value to Leica. We are the converted, they need to find people to convert.
B2 (;->
