The Art Of Reinvention: Polaroid Reboot Opens Door To Startups

Featured on forbes.com

If you grew up between the nineteen sixties and nineties, the chances are you had at least a passing acquaintance with the Polaroid camera. From the early monochrome incarnations through later color models, the “Polaroid” was there at weddings, parties and family events. Famously it was positioned not so much as a camera but as a social lubricant.

And the brand itself still has a resonance in the digital age, even if its role as both a party ice-breaker (and a serious tool for creating images on the fly) has been usurped by the mobile phone. Both Polaroid’s logo and its distinctive picture shape are referenced by Instagram and more generally the word remains synonymous with physical instant pictures.

When Polaroid President and CEO Scott Hardy visited London last week he was keen to stress that the company itself is continuing to capitalize on the strength of that brand, albeit in the context of different business model, conceived by the private equity fund owners who took control in 2009 and offering partnerships opportunities to startups as well as more established businesses.  I took the opportunity to talk to him about reinvention and recapturing an entrepreneurial edge when market conditions changes and the traditional customer base falls away.

And Polaroid’s reinvention has been radical. The company was rescued from bankruptcy in a $42m deal in 2009 and as Hardy recalls. “The owners said the business model would have to be turned on its head.”

In essence that meant Polaroid ceased to be a vertically-integrated manufacturing company and instead became what Hardy describes as a “curator of innovation.” Or to put it another way, the company partners with technology companies across a range of products from video cameras to smart TVs and marlets them under Polaroid brand.

The key says Hardy is to leverage the associations of the brand – “instant,” “sharing,” “fun” and “ease of use” into products where those attributes have some relevance. Hardy cites the Cube sports video camera as a case in point. Easy to use, relatively cheap and just a touch retro it offers an alternative to more expensive on-the-go video cams.

On the distribution side, the company is building strategic partnerships. For instance, here in the UK, supermarket chain Asda is a seller of Polaroid products. Meanwhile, members of my generation may be pleased to know that the Polaroid camera itself is still available, albeit manufactured under licence by a third party. 

Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

While the Polaroid brand is back on the shelves under new guises, the company itself is virtually unrecognisable. As a curator is no longer employs thousands of manufacturing and research staff. Instead, it finds innovation through partnerships. And that, says Hardy, offers scope for entrepreneurs, including in the UK. “We already have a number of partnerships with startup companies and we are willing to be creative about the deals,” he says. Announcements concerning UK partnerships are expected with the next few months.

The Need for Agility

Hardy says the new model is proving successful, a claim evidenced by $600m in sales in 2013. But does the Polaroid story contain any lessons for other companies operating here in the UK or in Europe?

Well, not every company large or small enjoys a brand with Polaroid’s resonance and not every struggling business will have the financial wherewithal to undergo a root and branch restructuring and recalibration taking several years to bed in.

But perhaps the main lesson lies in recognizing the need need to change course – sometimes radically – in line with the market.

Here in the UK, the recession is long-since over and companies that have weathered the storm successfully might reasonably expect a resumption of “business as usual.” But it doesn’t always work that way. Witness the Tesco supermarket chain, which has emerged from the downturn finding that many customers have tried and liked the lower –cost competitors while also turning away from the ‘megastores’ that have been an important part of corporate strategy. The result has been a fall in profits and strategic rethink.

Elsewhere the disruptive impact of new digital business models on old established industries may only become truly apparent now the recessionary storm clouds have lifted.

For the corporates of the world, it can be hard to be fleet of foot and it’s probably significant that Polaroid’s reboot was driven by private equity owners. Smaller entrepreneurial businesses should find it easier to change focus and take advantage of new opportunities – provided of course they stay ahead, or at least abreast, of market trends. I’ll be taking a closer look at change strategies in subsequent columns.