EC|Wise, Inc. - Case Study: Kodak

Kodak is the best known name in the photography industry. While the company's main product is film, it views itself as being in the business of preserving memories.

Situation
Over the past decade, digital imaging and the Web have threatened Kodak's film and processing franchise, and have compelled the company to look for new ways to leverage memories into new lines of business.
Challenge
In 1999, Kodak was investigating how demographically focused Web sites could promote photography and enhance the Kodak brand. Initially, they decided to look at the senior and teen markets. For seniors, the goal was to determine if creating digital photo albums for seniors to share in a community center would be a viable product. For teens, Kodak had an initial product model for teens to manage photos online, and asked us to analyze teen responses to web sites with a variety of appearances and feature sets.
Resolution
EC Wise helped Kodak to design, test, and determine the viability of these concepts. EC Wise worked with Kodak usability specialists and designers to develop prototype sites for usability testing and analysis. Based on our test report, we recommended not pursuing the project, as the required workflows were too complex for the users to accomplish effectively. As a result, this early investment saved Kodak the time and money of pursuing a project that was likely to fail. For teens, EC Wise designed a set of features, games, and special effects, and conducted market testing. The analysis of the data we collected from use of the sites revealed that the chosen market segment was really two segments with distinctly different preferences. As a result we redesigned the offering in a way that could effectively support both market segments. Ultimately, Kodak decided to proceed with further investments based on our recommendations.