Marketing the Products
By Aslam Hussain
Marketing has been a major component in organisations, exhibiting the focus on transactional exchange. Its key focus is on the products or services that may be of interest to customers, and the strategies used in sales, communications and business.
Towards the end of the 19th Century the Industrial Revolution was well under way, illiteracy was receding and the nature of marketing/advertising was changing. Rather than pandering to the rich, manufacturers began to woo the mass market.
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By the 1880s, businesses began to recognise that advertising could not only reduce production costs by increasing sales but also create desires for products in consumers. Alfred H. Harman had used press adverts for his photographic services and continued to do so after founding ‘Ilford Ltd.’ in 1879 for his photographic products.
During the nineteenth century, photography had been the exclusive preserve of a small number of professionals (with their large-format cameras and glass plates) and the privileged. However, when KODAK invented the film camera (in 1890s) they made photography a popular pastime around the world.
Ilford Ltd. decided to attack this amateur market seriously and formed a separate company called ‘Selo Limited’ in 1920 following the incorporation of Ilford, Imperial, Gem and Amalgamated Photographic Manufacturers.
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Then in 1923 Ilford Ltd. produced its first roll film/s under ‘Selo’ brand. Please find an example of ‘Selo’ film packaging below.
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk
Below are pictures of Ilford print wallets (envelopes), provided to customers from chemists shops after the shop (or its agent) had developed and printed the customer's roll film.
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk
Here is the cover of ‘The ILFORD Courier’, which is a 14 page marketing booklet to convey Ilford Limited’s business strategy to their dealers/tradesmen as direct marketers. The magazine encourages dealers, who come-in contact with its customers directly to highlight the use of good quality photographic products and distribute copies of ‘Make Photography Your Hobby’ published by British Photographic Manufacturers Association.
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk
The great majority of early snapshots were made for personal reasons: to commemorate important events (weddings, graduations, parades); to document travels and seaside holidays; to record parties, picnics, or simple family get-togethers; to capture the appearance of children, pets, cars, and houses. Especially, during 1950s photography played a role in converting travel to tourism. As seen in the marketing adverts of seaside, skiing and sunny climates. The idea was that if you hadn't brought back pictures from your vacation you might as well not have gone. For people, photography was all about preserving memories for posterity and about sentiment.
This highlights the early marketing techniques used by photographic companies used to teach people how and what to photograph, as well as persuading them why they needed to do so.
In 1948 Ilford entered the camera market with the “Witness” and here an example of an advert in Amateur Photographer magazine for 1st April 1953.
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk
Courtesy of photomemorabilia.co.uk