See this latest official Fuji promotional video for the X10 today:-
(URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qttiZkQBq2s, via Jimmy Yen's Blog)
This I would call it advertisement. In comparison, let's watch back the last Pentax Q official promotional video:-
(URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbZ_aHI6p3k, via More Pentax Q YouTube Videos)
Although the total time length of the Pentax video is very close to that of the Fuji's (both in 3 minutes something, the difference is only in 2 seconds), the Pentax video is rather boring along and indeed very unattractive from the beginning. In fact, the background music plus the narration or simply the presentation as a whole all make it looks like the descriptive audio-visual exhibits inside a museum, rather than an *Ad*! :-o With such weak "promotion", I just wonder how many people will be attracted to buy the product after watching?
So, after all, this shows the weak and low marketing ability of Pentax, in addition to the various weaknesses of their products, already. In marketing sense, they should think to do more, and more importantly, they should think about HOW to do it better and what should be done!
Some people would say that Ricoh will soon take over Pentax and things would change. But what I want to tell is that last time I watched a Ricoh Ad on the TV, it was NOT better than those of the Pentax', or even worse! >:-[
Besides, it can be seen that Fuji has been very proactive this year in promoting their new products via different Internet channels. For example, they have their Fujiguys to do this dedicated job, say, to upload exclusive new camera hands-on and official promotional videos, etc. to the YouTube. In contrast, who are doing this job for Pentax in the Pentaxland? Who? Me?! ;-p
At the end of the day, the poor publicity and works (if any) done by Pentax is one of the main reasons why their sales and results have been so poor. A very recent example is that their that recent five-year Pentax Q development speech is just plain stupid and rather silly afterall and will certainly help them nothing for their sales! All in all, I think the decision makers of Pentax really need to sit down and think more, for what they should and could do in order to improve and then get better results!
Related:-
The State of Pentax (by Q1 2011)
Pentax' Performance Evaluation Against Forbes' Seven Secrets of (Successful) Companies