ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Eastman Kodak Co. is betting that Tom Cruise brings the same marketing magic to digital cameras that he brought to Red Stripe beer, the Jamaican lager he sipped in the film "The Firm."
In the action movie "Mission: Impossible 2," Cruise uses a Kodak camera in his quest to stop terrorists from releasing a deadly virus. The movie, released Wednesday, serves as the basis for a new marketing campaign by the world's biggest photography company to promote its digital cameras.Sales of H.P. Bulmer Holdings Plc's Red Stripe beer rose 53 percent after it was highlighted in the 1993 film. Kodak would be pleased with similar results. The 116-year-old company is banking on digital cameras and related products -- paper, photo finishing and printers -- to boost revenue, which was little changed in the first quarter from the previous year.
"By virtue of being a top vendor of digital cameras, they have a source of revenue they didn't have before," said Steve Hoffenberg, an analyst for Lyra Research, Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts.
Film sales have traditionally accounted for the majority of Kodak sales, with cameras and other products playing a minor role. Digital cameras display images instantly and let users send photographs on the Internet.
Digital products and services accounted for 23 percent of Kodak's sales in the recent quarter. The company expects digital-related sales to rise as much as 40 percent annually by 2005.
Digital cameras sales were 5.5 million in 1999, or about 8 percent to 10 percent of total camera sales, Lyra estimates. Lyra predicts that 7.8 million digital cameras will be sold this year.
The push into new products comes as Kodak has been beset by price competition from rival Fuji Photo Film Co., as well as concern that digital products will depress demand for film.
Still, the digital bet began to pay off in the first quarter, as losses related to the company's digital business narrowed to $4 million. Kodak overtook Olympus Optical Co. as the No. 2 seller of digital cameras in the U.S., behind Sony Corp., according to Ben Reitzes, a PaineWebber Inc. analyst with an "attractive" rating on Kodak's shares.
In "Mission: Impossible 2," which will be released in 49 countries through October, Cruise views pictures in the camera's LCD display and on his personal computer.
Kodak provided post-production digital services to create some of the film's special effects in exchange for the placement of its DC290 and DC280 cameras, which that sell for about $900 and $800 each.