This was when I walked past the RadioShack stand in CES 2025 that I noticed a Kodak stand not far ahead. And this was while wondering about the fate of these two legends – okay, maybe not. legendary – names that I spied another The Kodak booth is two rows down. For a company that has died several times before, it is certainly experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Look, there weren't always brands that died and were revived in the pursuit of quick money. Especially if the price is cheap and there is some residual degree of attachment to it, but even then there are a hell of a lot of them now. Do we need four different companies selling Kodak-branded products?
Perhaps the most egregious example at this year's show came from Mizari, a Los Angeles-based company that sells equipment under a variety of names. This year, the company showcased a line of Memorex-branded products, including e-bikes, scooters and golf caddies. If you're not familiar, Memorex made recordable media during the analog era: computer and cassette tapes, VHS, CDs, and eventually DVDs. His slogan was: “Is he alive or Memorex?” boasts excellent sound quality. Does this slogan apply to e-bikes, scooters and golf caddies? This is less clear.
Company officials said the use of the Memorex name was an experiment to see how much the public liked the brand. They are aimed at people over 40 who remember what they put into their tape recorders. At the same time, they are aimed at the younger generation, who may feel the pull of this retro name, since we obviously live in an era where everything old is inherently laudable. Mizari also owns the license for Delorean, although only for the production of e-bikes, scooters and go-karts for children, you know?
RadioShack has been passed from owner to owner since the original application for Chapter 11 in 2015.. In May 2023, it was purchased by Unicomer, a Central and South American RadioShack franchisee that is now relaunching the parent brand in the United States. Like many of these companies, it will act as a distributor, adding its name to a variety of products made elsewhere. Its line already includes 400 products: from gaming keyboards and mice to portable projectors and speakers. The idea, as you might have guessed, is to capitalize on the fact that people are more likely to remember the name of this product, rather than some generic product they find among the discards on Amazon.
Two adjacent Kodaks share the Kodak name but little else: one shows off a Kodak Mini Shot (lead image) made by Prinics Co. Walk another 50 yards across the plush CES carpet and you'll find another Kodak (pictured). above), this time selling digital photo frames and tablets. Staff at both booths are happy to talk about how much of Kodak's extensive license they're paying for. Heck, Kodak's last stand also advertised the same products under the name Thomson, an old French electronics company that was renamed Thales 25 years ago.
Walk around a bit and you'll soon find a large stand from RCA, which also features the names Thomson and Blaupunkt. All three are nothing more than names and logos applied to products supplied by various manufacturers. RCA is known for manufacturing radio equipment and other electronics before branching out into radio broadcasting, music and film. So it's only natural that you could purchase an RCA-branded e-bike and scooter, cashing in on all those bikes RCA was making when your pop-pop was in diapers.
Next to the Memorex-branded Mizari exhibits was the third Kodak booth I came across, this time showcasing a wide selection of products. These included smartwatches, cameras, binoculars, halo mirrors and Bluetooth speakers, all produced by various licensees. And literally two booths morewas another A Kodak booth, this time from C&A Global, which makes Kodak-branded photo printers (and HP Sprocket), as well as projectors and scanners.
I'm not sure I need to throw my arms around and try to make some grandiose opinion about all this. With one hand, it doesn't matter. Many inexpensive products are sold to people who have no intention of questioning their purchase. Considering how common the practice is of buying a dead brand and using it on whatever you're selling, it has to be profitable enough to justify it. But it just makes me scratch my head, wondering who would remember a tape recorder company from the 90s and want to ride an e-bike with its logo on the side. Or who would have thought that the Kodak brand still had any credibility left, given the almost homeopathic level of dilution to which it is subjected. Perhaps the real lasting value of these companies is to serve as a reminder to all other tech brands that this is the fate that awaits them if they continue to screw up.