The passing of a photographic era

Progress tramples older technologies. Usually this passes unnoticed, but sometimes we get the opportunity to pause at the grave.

Polaroid had already halted the production of instant cameras, but this week it announced it was closing the last of the manufacturing plants that make instant film.

Why wait for instant film to develop when you can see your shots instantly on a digital camera? Still, I'll miss shaking those instant prints to hurry their development (an action which apparently accomplished nothing but everyone still did.) Just think, Outkast's song "Hey Ya!" is just four years old and already it's as old and musty as "Surrey with the Fringe on Top."

I think Polaroid's and Kodak's fates are a great lesson for every big business: Don't lose sight of the business you're in!

I remember branding guru Al Reis once saying something along the lines of that Kodak's brand was about memories while Fuji was just about film. He was right, but Kodak forgot about it themselves. At some point they thought they were in the film business and not the memory business, so they missed what might've been a huge advantage in the infant digital photography market. They're still trying to catch up.

It's an important lesson: Companies can easily forget that their success and failure rests not on their ability to make or distribute physical things but instead on providing a solution, furnishing genuine experiences, and/or creating a meaningful and emotional connection in their customers.

Shake that thought around a while and see what develops.