Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: KODK) will now focused completely on printing-related technology and equipment.
Ronald Pace, Seedonk Inc.'s senior vice president of business development and operations said, "It was difficult to find a brand that resonated — family values, taking care of loved ones." Seedonk Inc. had signed a deal last year with Kodak to release in early 2015 its Kodak Baby Monitoring System. "Then the Kodak opportunity came up. Kodak Moments, these are the things that are important to our customers."
Kodak's big business is licensing. In its latest fiscal quarter, $51 millions in gross revenue came from agreements on intellectual property and brand licensing.
Jeff Clarke, Kodak's Chief Executive told the analysts of Wall Street last month that Kodak will focus more on deals on revenue-sharing annuity and will really expect on licensing agreements.
"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," said Clarke.
Since Steve Overman, Chief Marketing Officer, will oversee the licensing, Clarke said, "We believe it will have a lot more energy."
A number of licensing arrangements which will be displayed on International Consumer Electronics Show this January 2015 will "go back years," like Rochester-based KMG Digital that signed a deal in 2010 which were given an "exclusive worldwide licenses" to the name of Kodak for products like blank DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and CDs.
London's Bullitt Group announced that it plans to introduce array of Kodak electronics this 2015 such as Android smartphone and tablet computer.
Ronald Pace of Seedonk refused to talk pertaining financial terms of its agreement on licensing with Kodak.
"There's so much noise out there, so many gadgets and things popping up right and left," Pace stated. "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."
Pace said that Kodak has been helping Seedonk in creating better products. "I plan on working (with Kodak) as long as I can, for many years."