Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2008 - (Page 16) cover story PICTURE PERFECT Jeffrey Hayzlett upgrades Kodak’s image for the digital age ven if you don’t run in the same professional circles as Jeffrey Hayzlett, odds are pretty good you’ve seen his face before. Especially if you’re a fan of The Donald. Loyal viewers of Celebrity Apprentice, Mr. Trump’s reality TV juggernaut, no doubt will recognize Hayzlett from an episode that aired last January. As Eastman Kodak Company’s chief business development officer and vice president, he was on hand as a corporate ambassador—passing judgment on the efforts of Stephen Baldwin, Gene Simmons, Tito Ortiz and other luminaries to highlight Kodak as a leading producer of inkjet printing products. But while notably high profile, the TV appearance was just one of numerous initiatives Hayzlett’s spearheaded in the service of Kodak’s reinvention … an effort that had been a long time in coming. You see, even a company as iconic as the 120-year-old film vanguard isn’t immune to the changing times—particularly when the very product it built its reputation upon becomes viewed as obsolete. And starting in the 1990s, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company found itself facing that very predicament, as the digital revolution threatened to send film the way of the dinosaurs. “We were kind of a victim of our own success,” says Hayzlett. “We had one of the most successful companies in the world based on a more By J e re my C o h e n 16 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 www.salesandmarketing.com www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com
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