The challenge for Pentax

I am not sure I understand where these terms apply? Are these terms related to the Pentax Photo Gallery? I have been studying the PPG terms and conditions, without finding the above quoted text.

Is it the Gallery on the Ricoh website, which is not the same thing as PPG?

Yes it is the MyPentax Gallery at the Ricoh website. Thank you for clearing that up!

BTW: Here is a link to the MyPentax Gallery: link

I also despair at some of the threads I read on other forums, as others have said it's basically down to "shall I pick Canon or Nikon?", and there's often someone who comes in to suggest Sony, and rarely someone who comes in to suggest Pentax. In fact one thread I read recently asked the question "what would you do if you were in charge of Pentax DSLRs?", which didn't really come to any conclusion other than a suggestion to innovate. But if the people in their dealerships aren't giving them an even share of the promotion, it's hard to see what they can do, other than to get some new dealerships, and with the reducing numbers of camera shops these days that's not going to be easy. But armed with the information that their dealers aren't pushing their products, I would like to think it would be time for them to be offering training, trying to set up brand evangelists, that kind of stuff.

I don't tend to jump in on these discussions because I'm not that aware of the Pentax range in terms of bodies and lenses these days, and even less well informed about the other makes. I perceive the lens range for Canikon is probably better, and I cringe when I see a new Sigma advert for a lens that isn't offered with a Pentax fit - at least back in the day a lot of these smaller brands used K-bayonet to mount their lenses so it made the lens people more likely to support it.

I also don't think that harking back to pros and celebs to promote the brand is going to help, if those are people from fifty-odd years ago and haven't got the brand loyalty any more. Fred or Bill (or perhaps Nathan or Josh) are more likely to be influenced by what their mates bought than by what an admittedly great photographer (or musician or whatever) used to like back in the sixties - witness the recent comments when some modern muso featured Paul McCartney on his new single.

Once the product range is good, it's all about marketing and promotion, and in a way it's great that their marketing department is full of marketing people - I've worked in places where technical people are expected to try to market products, and it doesn't end well. Even being technically better than everything else doesn't help - look at Betamax (or V2000), better than VHS but didn't "win".

For me it is about one simple concept. Demonstrate excellence with Pentax.

That isn't happening. I know where to find excellent Pentax images and excellent Pentax photographers. Use them.

Going back to the marketing mentioned earlier. Ricoh don't need to spend a lot of money on marketing, in this social networking age getting the message out has never been simpler or cheaper. What the brand needs to do is push entry level colourful bodies I to the hands of people like one direction, Rita Ora, Elle Goulding, young actors, actresses etc. just give them away and ask them to tweet images with them. I've seen small local jewellers have remarkable success with this method.

As for shelf space in shops it's not shops charging for that space. It brands being prepared to pay to use that space. To be honest the local camera shop for purchasing cameras and lenses is a thing of the past. I have started buying lenses from very.co.uk same price as the high street, but I get to pay in 12 months time interest free. I sell my camera body at 11 months old and buy another, it's like renting but on credit. Nikon actually have a store through very.co.uk and sigma also sell lenses through them. This has to be the way to go. Pentax sell the k-3 through them but the prices are a little higher compared to the nikon gear which is all at high street price.

I think the current products are very exciting I just hope they aren't chasing an ever decreasing market...

Is that's who I'm thinking of she wasn't a 'Pentax person' but rather a sub-contracted one person "PR" business

Yes, that is what I remember as well. But the fact that a Pentax/Ricoh representative does not get a good welcome is not a good reason not to be active , on the contrary. By what I have seen Pentax/Ricoh does not seem to react to what is happening on social media (such as this site), which is a key part of marketing nowadays