[Leica] Russian Pres & S2

[douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)]

Steve, you wrote:

"maybe it's time for a real photographer to actually use their camera, and 
convince us it's best"

Followed closely by a "So what" to my comment on the above.

If one of the most prominent and respected photographers in Germany - 
the home of many of the biggest and most prominent marketing and 
advertising agencies in Europe (and the rest of the world for that 
matter) and numerous up-market and luxury brands (Audi, Mercedes-Benz, 
Porsche - to name but a few in one single segment - and all represented 
by German agencies), is plugging the camera, that is good news for 
Leica. As is product placement by celebrities like Seal and well-known 
politicians like Medvedev - he got them a free plug on the BBC website 
and many others and is certainly popular with the new rich iof Russia, a 
market important enough to motivate Leica to launch an official Leica 
Store in Moscow.

The S2 addresses a target group that is far removed from almost all the 
enthusiasts and professionals who use Leicas for a living and 
represented here on the LUG and similar lists.

In fact, currently I can only think of Tina and Doug who use exclusively 
Leica equipment- and I presume Tina wouldn't really want to drag an S2 
around on her travels.

Sadly, we must admit that almost all of us here on the list are no 
longer an significant factor in the future economic viability and 
profitability of the company that Leica is now gradually becoming, 
however much we love the brand  - although, when I read how often their 
products and policies are criticised and dissed by members of the list, 
we are almost certainly a predominantly negative factor in the eyes of 
their PR and marketing people - if they in fact take any notice of us at 
all.

Steve, Leica is not trying to sell you or me an S2, and most of the rest 
of us are way outside the intended target group too.

Let Leica market things in their own way - they're apparently already 
doing much better than they initially expected, despite the economic 
crisis.

Their aim is to angle big fish at the top of the professional and 
special editions market and net shoals of smaller fish at the bottom - 
we're in the middle, and they were good enough to bait their hooks with 
the M8 and M9 to catch this market segment too, as many of us have proved.

Their key targets are no longer the traditional US and European markets. 
If you look at their recent interim report, the most prominent and 
profitable current and futures markets are China, Russia and the Emirates.

Cheers
Douglas