Matthew Daneman

@mdaneman

In the market for a Kodak-brand smartphone? Want a Kodak-brand baby monitor? Maybe one that runs on Kodak-brand batteries?

Eastman Kodak Co. — which once made consumer products ranging from digital cameras to Bayer aspirin — now is focused exclusively on printing-related equipment and technology. Even the iconic yellow boxes of 35 millimeter camera film it manufacturers are made for Kodak spinoff Kodak Alaris.

But the Kodak name survives on consumer products such as cameras available at your local RadioShack, with more goods bearing the Kodak logo coming soon.

The International Consumer Electronics Show to be held in Las Vegas next month will see something it hasn’t in three years — a Kodak booth. And there will be a a variety of companies that have licensed the Kodak name showing off their Kodak-branded goods.

“It was difficult to find a brand that resonated — family values, taking care of loved ones,” said Ronald Pace, senior vice president of business development and operations at video monitoring technology company Seedonk Inc., which signed a deal with Kodak last year that will see it put out its Kodak Baby Monitoring System in early 2015. “Then the Kodak opportunity came up. Kodak Moments, these are things that are important to our customers.”

Licensing is big business for Kodak. In its most recent fiscal quarter, such brand licensing and intellectual property agreements added up to $51 million in earnings before certain expenses.

And while it traditionally has favored one-time, upfront payments when signing such licensing deals, CEO Jeff Clarke told Wall Street analysts last month Kodak is going to focus more on revenue-sharing annuity deals, and to expect more licensing agreements in the future.

“There's many, many products out there that we believe will be relevant to the consumer with the Kodak brand on it. We see this as untapped opportunity. We've added some resources in this area.”

And with Chief Marketing Officer Steve Overman now overseeing licensing, Clarke said, “We believe it will have a lot more energy.”

Some of the licensing arrangements that will be on display at the International Consumer Electronics Show go back years, as in the case of Rochester-based KMG Digital, which in 2010 signed a deal giving it the exclusive worldwide licenses to the Kodak name for media products such as blank CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

Others are far newer. London’s Bullitt Group, which specializes in making consumer electronics under other companies’ brands, announced this week it plans to come out with a variety of Kodak electronics in 2015, including a tablet computer and Android smartphone.

And brand licensing has kept the Kodak name in the photography world, even as Kodak itself no longer is no longer there, having shut down its digital camera and pocket video camera business in 2012 as part of its bankruptcy. Sakar International launched a line of Kodak camera and photo accessories in 2013. And in early 2013, Kodak announced it had signed a licensing deal with California’s JK Imaging that has seen that company put out a variety of Kodak-brand digital cameras.

Seedonk’s Pace declined to talk about the financial terms of the licensing agreement with Kodak. But the cost of the Kodak brand paled in comparison to the marketing weight it carries, he said.

“There’s so much noise out there, so many gadgets and things popping up right and left,” Pace said. “The one thing people are looking for is something they can trust. It’s hard to build a brand from scratch and get that trust … without spending millions and millions of dollars for promotion. It always came back, this was a superior way to go. It’s a pretty good investment compared to what Kodak offers.”

Meanwhile, suggestions from Kodak’s imaging quality experts ended up having the company tweak the video monitor part of its baby monitor system. “They’re been helping us create a better product,” Pace said. “I plan on working (with Kodak) as long as I can, for many years.”

MDANEMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

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