#1. Last week I photographed a beer companies sales convention. During one of the sales presentation, the announcer talked about the great new promotion the brand (Rolling Rock) was going to start next year: Send in your camera phone pictures of you and your friends having fun and drinking Rolling Rock. The “winners” will see their photos on Rolling Rock packages and in advertising! Crowdsourcing at its best. Get free photos and cut photographers out of the equation! And….. if you don’t have a camera phone, they will be setting up photo booths at major events, so you can jump in and take the photos there. Oh well, another opportunity lost to new technologies.
#2, Last week, Ritz Camera closed most of their stores in the Chicago area. Not enough people buying stuff to keep them open. I also heard a rumor that the biggest camera store in Chicago (Helix) will be closing it’s doors soon. It used to be the place to go in town for professional equipment, but Calumet came in and blew them away. Another one bites the dust.