Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/01/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Ah well, you can only resist so long..... Bob wrote > If I'm not mistaken I sparked at least some of this nonmetered M discussion > with a comment about an M2-2. No, No, No. Leica do not want to go downmarket. If Leica was asking me, I'd say, not the M2, M4, M6 or anything else with bits lopped off or left out- it wouldn't be any cheaper to make, and they'd have to sell it low, undercutting and eroding M6 sales. Makes no sense at all. No, what I'd suggest would be a 50th Anniversary M3. Absolute replica of the original, perhaps with the exception of the double wind, since the M3 changed later, and the daft original flash connectors. Top quality finishes, M3 viewfinder, engraved top plate etc etc. No motor, probably no hot shoe- they just don't look right, and we can design something much more discreet, which would hopefully have the advantage of only being useable with a Leica flash. I'd even go as far as using the original 50's packaging with as few slight changes as possible. Total nostalgia trip. Then I'd tell them to sell it for a _LOT_ more than an M6. And it would sell, you know. It would sell like little hot cakes and Leica would make-a plenty-a dosh. The camera would not cut into M6 sales, being an instant collector, rather than a user. The marketing line would be something like- "the camera that started it all- recreating the birth of the legend for discerning connoisseurs". (Don't laugh.) This is where the reintroduction of the M3 would score over cameras like the Millennium M6 in black paint, worthy though these initiatives are. The point is that Leica is in a niche market, not a mass market. It makes little sense for successful and established niche-marketeers to attack the mass market- there they are up against big fish who already have the production capability and the marketing muscle to fight on their own terms. Leica need to choose their ground carefully., and I have no doubt that developing their niche-market position as purveyors of high-class photographic jewellery would be a lucrative path to follow. Leica marketing should look to history- have a look through some old pictures of movie stars...what camera do they carry, when they carry one? Yup. A Leica. Did they know how to use it? Oh yes......... Exclusivity. That's where it's at. Hand-finished M3s at serious money for the rich and fashionable. Sorry if that does not seem to help the Leica user, but then I'm not thinking about this from the user's point of view, but from Leica's. I think that in marketing terms Leica would be crackers to try to lower their market position. Do we see Ferrari making hatchbacks? Can you buy a pony car with a consumer 4-cylinder motor? Er, no. If anything Leica should be introducing higher-level product. I know they do this already with the commemorative editions, but the advantage of the reintroduced M3 is that it could go on and on- all Leica would have to do would be to make sure that annual production was 10% less than annual orders! Cheers Rod