What’s working
Four quarters of growth, long-term debt down from $208M to $108M in six months, and a logo rule so simple it survives anywhere: a red K on a yellow field. Film demand is real, and Kodak is selling more of it directly.
Independent brand study · 2 Oct 2026
Film is the brand.
Print is the business.
Kodak has posted four straight quarters of growth, a year after warning it might not survive. The turnaround runs on printing and chemicals. The love for the name runs on film. The brand now has to carry both.
By Zahin Sultan · built from public sources and live observation
The official logo file, unaltered. Shown for identification. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Kodak.
The verdict
A real turnaround. A brand pulled in two.
What’s at risk
The best-loved film names are changing as distribution moves between two Kodak companies. The website leads with the turnaround story. And the public brand guideline is one page long.
My one move
Give film a front door of its own, bridge the old names to the new ones for a set period, and write down how Kodak sounds when it talks about film.
The year the brand got complicated
From “substantial doubt” to a record film year.
Going-concern warning
Kodak tells investors there is “substantial doubt” it can continue as a going concern, with about $500M of debt coming due and no committed financing. The language is resolved by November.
CBS News · FstoppersFilm comes home (US, Canada)
Eastman Kodak starts distributing consumer film directly in the US and Canada, taking it back from Kodak Alaris.
WikipediaPension reversion
Kodak completes the reversion of its overfunded US pension plan, releasing more than $1B in excess assets, with a large share returned to Kodak. It helps pay down debt.
FstoppersFilm comes home (everywhere)
Direct distribution extends to other regions, ending about twelve years of exclusive operation by Kodak Alaris.
WikipediaSix famous names change
Portra 160, 400, 800 become Ektacolor Pro. T-Max 100, 400, 3200 become Ektapan. The emulsions are reported as unchanged.
Digital Camera WorldLarge format returns
Large-format and 100-foot bulk rolls join the range, sold directly by Eastman Kodak to distributors.
PetaPixelFourth quarter of growth
Revenue $311M. Net profit $17M against a $26M loss a year earlier. Cash $290M. Long-term debt $108M.
CineD
Scroll sideways →
What the brand says it is
The system, read from the source.
Two colours, one box
- Kodak YellowPantone 1235C
#FFB700 - Kodak RedPantone 485C
#ED0000
From Kodak’s own logo guideline (2023). The red K always sits on a field of Kodak Yellow, with clear space of 0.25z around the yellow field and a minimum height of 15mm in print or 80px on screen.
What is public, and what isn’t
The public guideline is a single page: minimum size, clear space and two colours. I found nothing public on voice, typography or layout. The kodak.com site loads Graphik and Schnyder Condensed.
A tight rule is a strength. Kodak’s logo needs almost no explaining. The gap is everything that comes after the logo.
What I found
Three findings, one thing to protect.
1
The front door is a trade catalogue.
What I saw. On 2 October the first thing on kodak.com was a video interview with the chairman and CEO about the turnaround. The main menu has five doors: Print, Advanced Materials & Chemicals, Film, Consumer, Company.
What I counted. The menu lists 36 product links: 8 print, 11 advanced materials and chemicals, 12 film and 5 consumer. Film is a third of the menu. The brand’s cultural story, and the reason people outside the trade know the name, is film.
Why it matters. Print is 63% of revenue, so the business logic is sound. But the same page serves a photographer who wants a roll, a studio that wants cinema stock and a plant that wants solvent recovery, and only one of them arrives through the heart of the brand.
I could be wrong because the hero rotates, and Kodak runs other sites and programmes for film. I looked at kodak.com/en on one day.
2
Two Kodaks, and the names are moving.
| Sold before | Now, from Eastman Kodak |
|---|---|
| Portra 160 | Ektacolor Pro 160 |
| Portra 400 | Ektacolor Pro 400 |
| Portra 800 | Ektacolor Pro 800 |
| T-Max 100 | Ektapan 100 |
| T-Max 400 | Ektapan 400 |
| T-Max 3200 | Ektapan 3200 |
What I saw. For about twelve years, Kodak Alaris held the rights to sell Kodak-branded still film. Eastman Kodak has now taken that distribution back, and six well-known stocks were renamed along the way. The emulsions are reported as the same.
Why it matters. Product names are brand equity that lives in other people’s mouths. “Portra 400” is how photographers search, review and recommend. Reporting notes that stock under the old names may still be on shelves, from the other Kodak, at other prices.
I could be wrong because trademark rights probably decide who may use the old names. I’m not saying Kodak should use them. I’m saying the move needs a bridge, and I haven’t seen one.
3
The brand guideline is one page long.
What I saw. The downloadable Kodak logo kit contains the logo files and a one-page guideline dated 2023. It is a good page. It also says nothing about how Kodak should sound or look beyond the box.
Why it matters. The brand is now spoken for by two companies, distributors, labs, licensees and a CEO on camera. When the people selling the film have a logo rule and no voice, each one invents the voice.
I could be wrong because fuller guidelines almost certainly exist for partners and licensees. I only judged what is public.
The whole public guideline
- Minimum size15mm / 80px
- Clear space0.25z
- ColoursYellow + Red
- Voice—
- Type—
- Layout—
The fix · my proposal, not Kodak’s
A front door for film, a bridge, a voice.
A
A film-first front door
Same company, same site, three doors by what people come to do. Company, investors and careers move to the footer.
B
A name bridge
Pick a stock. Switch the bridge on to see what the pack and product page would say. Wording is mine, and legal would need to confirm it.
EKTACOLOR PRO 400
Colour negative film · 35mm · 36 exposures
Same emulsion as the film you knew as Portra 400.
The proposal: print the bridge line on the box and the product page for a fixed period, then retire it. Set the end date up front, so the old name fades on purpose, not by accident.
C
A voice for film
Six posts that show how Kodak should sound when it talks about film. Short, physical, specific.
Waiting is the feature.
Shoot it today. Know in a week. That is the point.
36 chances.
Every roll gives you 36 frames and no preview. Make them count.
Grain is not a filter.
It is silver, light and chemistry. It looks like nothing else because it is nothing else.
Shot on film.
Cinematographers still choose it. So can you.
Same film. New name.
Portra is now Ektacolor Pro. The emulsion hasn’t changed. (Wording subject to legal.)
Your lab is open.
Find a lab that develops it, near you.
Do
- Name the object: roll, grain, light, lab.
- One idea per post, in the present tense.
- Credit the photographer.
Don’t
- Reach for “iconic”, “vibes” or “memories”.
- Lead with a discount.
- Argue against digital. Let the film talk.
What I’d do first
Three moves, tested before shipped.
Move film to the front
Prototype the three-door homepage and compare it with today’s in a first-click test: “where would you buy a roll?” and “where would you source cinema film?”
Measure First-click success by audience, and time to correct page.
Ship the bridge, with an end date
Agree the wording with legal. Put it on packs, product pages and one social post per stock.
Measure Share of searches landing on the new names versus the old ones.
Write the voice page
Turn the six posts and the do/don’t list into two pages that distributors, labs and licensees can use.
Measure Partner adoption, and consistency across a sample of their posts.
Method and limits
How I know, and what I don’t.
- Secondary sources for the numbers. Q2 2026 figures come from CineD’s report on Kodak’s results. The going-concern, pension and distribution items come from news coverage and Wikipedia. I did not open Kodak’s SEC filings, so check any figure you plan to quote.
- Print share is my arithmetic: $195M of $311M, rounded to 63%.
- Menu counts come from the navigation markup on kodak.com/en on 2 Oct 2026. The hero rotates and may have changed.
- Naming. The renamed stocks are as reported by Digital Camera World. Who owns which name is a legal question I haven’t researched.
- Logo. The logo is Kodak’s official PNG, used unaltered, as its guideline requires.
- No inside data. No analytics, interviews or testing.
- Tools. Research and code were built with AI assistance. The analysis, judgment and recommendations are Zahin’s.
Sources
- Kodak logo guideline
- CineD: fourth straight quarter of growth
- CBS News: going-concern warning
- Fstoppers: Q2 2026, pension, debt
- Wikipedia: Kodak Alaris
- Digital Camera World: film names
- PetaPixel: large format
KODAK and the Kodak logo are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company, shown only to identify the subject of commentary. This study is not affiliated with or endorsed by Kodak.
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