Howard and Saul Frank, managing directors at Camera Electronic, have launched a fortnightly photography radioshow with Macquarie Media called Snapshot, broadcasting across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.
In the first 25-minute show on major radio outlets 3AW, 2GB, and 4BC they discuss topics that are of interest to photography enthusiasts – tips and tricks, gear advice, and so on. Radio host John Stanley, a self-confessed ‘photography simpleton’, steered the conversation to the megapixel myth, drones, and 35mm film before opening the line to callers with questions.
Equal parts a marketing and promotional exercise, Howard and Saul offered advice to callers and provided classic specialist retailer expertise. They fielded questions about the best bird photography and travel camera, film scanning and lens adapters, ask questions about aperture, Canon FD lens adapters, and so on.
Camera Electronic also offered a $449 Leica Sofort black instant camera to the caller with the best question.
Hats off to the Frank brothers on the initiative. With no obvious ‘grow the market’ strategies from leading Australian photo companies, and no industry associations to help channel consumer discretionary dollars into photo stores, we will be relying on the energy and talent of individual small businesses to do the job for the foreseeable future.
Listen back here.
That’s great news for everyone. Well done Howard and Saul! There’s great public interest and an appetite for photography and, apart from the specialist magazines, these days it largely goes unfed. Hopefully suppliers will be fully supportive. Sadly, today’s marketing managers far too often seem blind to anything that does not appear on Twitter, Facebook or any other player in the social media swamp.