 |
Jeffrey HayzlettChief Marketing OfficerKodak |
Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett is no stranger to the social media marketing world. Arguably one of the most visible chief marketers on Twitter—last we checked, he's closing in on 17,000 followers—Hayzlett has expertly guided his team at Kodak to tap social media to transform brand perception, gain insight, and better engage with customers. That, of course, is the bird’s-eye view. On the heels of the release of Hayzlett’s new book, The Mirror Test, Josh James, SVP and GM of Omniture, an Adobe Company (CMO.com’s parent), had a wide-ranging discussion with the marketing pro to find out what he’s doing, how he’s doing it, and what it all means to Kodak.
Josh James: Why did you take the CMO job at Kodak?
Jeffrey Hayzlett: I owned a successful consulting practice before Kodak approached me, but I jumped at the chance to lead marketing at this iconic brand. The way I saw it, why wouldn’t I want to lead marketing at Kodak? I couldn’t wait to get started—in fact, I even showed up a week early! Periodically I think to myself, “George Eastman walked these halls. He worked in this office.” That inspires me. I tell my team that there are very few times in their careers when they can do what we are doing—change a company’s history. It’s a remarkable opportunity to work here.
James: As you look back on your time at Kodak, what major events have shaped your career?
Hayzlett: It's not an event, but a word: Scale—understanding the importance of being able to create and scale projects up and down. I tell anyone who asks that whether you are a small business in Sioux Falls or a Fortune 100 company, the processes, methodologies, successes, and problems are the same—you just add zeroes. The best example of that here is the Kodak Challenge with the PGA Tour. When I tell people I applied the same principles to the nationwide PGA Tour that I did to a local Easter egg hunt in South Dakota 20 years ago, I’m not just blowing smoke. Both were programs that scaled over time to provide greater value and relevance to my customers. Both piggybacked my company on existing events and took advantage of the work others were already doing.
James: As Kodak’s CMO, what are you trying to impact most? What is your primary message?
Hayzlett: The role of the leader is to set a vision, solve problems, and be a big cheerleader. That’s your assignment—it’s a big part of your job.
The first thing I did when I arrived was to change the mood. This was major. I told my team, “We can win.” Everyone needed to believe this. We had great people, very well-trained in their areas of expertise. They needed to believe that they could change things.
The second thing I did was to change the look and feel of the brand. The brand reflects our promise to the customer. We wanted to be cool. But as I told the other members of the C-suite, you can’t be cool and dress like Elmer Fudd. So we focused on changing the look and feel of our brand—not only on the B2C side, but the B2B side, as well. Our high-end, $4 million commercial printers used to look like a box. We focused on making them look as cool and advanced as a Maserati.
James: So what does Kodak’s CEO and the rest of the C-suite think of the “coolness factor” you’ve introduced?
Hayzlett: They recognize and understand its strategic importance and how we’re using digital and social media to help create it. As the CMO, I have a seat at the decision table and constantly communicate with them, identify their conditions of satisfaction, and then ask them whether they are satisfied. Sometimes they are, sometimes they are not, and we have healthy debates about what to do. But at the same time, they know that we have to take risks to succeed and that we can’t be afraid to fail. We’ve tried things that I wouldn’t want to do again. But it’s part of our process to move forward.
