photokina Newsroom

The international business forum “Memories on demand” promises to be the top event of the photokina 2008 supporting program: At the world’s leading imaging trade fair, top-ranking international managers from the photographic and imaging industry, both from the trade and respective service sectors, will address the effects of digital imaging technologies on consumer lifestyles and present innovative business models. About 400 decision-makers from around the world are expected to attend the event on the second and third days of the fair (September 24 and 25, 2008).

Major international business executives accepted the organizers’ invitation to present their visions for marketing the new digital imaging and communication technologies at the business forum. Digital imaging, mobile communication, consumer electronics, and the growing range of possibilities provided by the Internet all serve to redefine the term “memories”, which always has been closely linked to photography: In addition to photographs and moving images, today it increasingly includes music, recorded sounds, and other digital content.

That means consumers have entirely new possibilities for preserving, reproducing and sharing their memories with others. To be successful, therefore, business models must also take into account the emotional components of memories.

Forum participants including Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Business Development Officer and Vice-President of the Eastman Kodak Company will explain new trends, possibilities, and marketing processes from the perspective of a major manufacturer; prominent experts will speak about the latest possibilities of mobile imaging; and communications specialists will present innovative approaches for boosting the interest of new target groups in digital imaging products and services.

Digital technology also is becoming an integral element in “scrapbooking,” the consumer trend of creating one’s own memory books, which is especially popular in the USA. Dr. Mark Mizen of Creative Memories, the world’s largest scrapbooking company, will speak about using digital technology to create these personal “life stories.”

One of the greatest challenges facing the imaging industry is to attract younger target groups to photography and to printing out their own images. A representative of the internationally renowned advertising and PR firm Ketchum, New York, will be on hand to present unconventional marketing strategies including blogs, social networks and text messaging – and to show new approaches for reaching “Generation Y“.

Top managers of store-based and online retailers will present their concepts for marketing digital technologies, and a representative of a leading international imaging company will show how industry and retailers can collaborate for mutual success.

The international business forum “Memories on demand” is being jointly organized by the global publications Photo Imaging News and INTERNATIONAL CONTACT, and sponsored by photokina, market research firm GfK, and conference specialist IMI. The presentations will take place on September 24 and 25, 2008, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Europasaal of the Congress Center East at the Cologne exhibition center. Online registration will begin from June 1, 2008 – at www.photokina-cologne.com.