Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd published a number of newsletters for their staff throughout the 20th century. One of these was the Kodak Sales News, an internal staff publication dating from the mid-late 20th century, which changed its editorial focus, readership and format over time.

1956-1968

The first issue of Kodak Sales News was produced by Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd in September 1956. It was a monthly publication, in booklet format, that was sent to all branches of Kodak. It provided news from every department at the Abbotsford factory, the Sales Division, and 'all over the world'. Contributions from staff were actively encouraged to improve the quality of the newsletter and to ensure the content remained relevant. The Kodak Sales News also included black and white photographs.

Kodak Sales News replaced an earlier in-house publication, the Abbotsford Service Bulletin, also a black and white booklet, that was published from at least the late 1940s until probably August 1956. This bulletin had provided a 'link' between the Production and Sales Departments at the factory site, whereas its replacement, the Kodak Sales News, was an expansion of company communications that moved beyond the factory walls to its sales and marketing departments, and lasted until almost the end of the twentieth century.

The Kodak Sales News was sometimes referred to as the Abbotsford Sales News in supplements and indexes produced in-house throughout the 1950s, recalling the earlier in-house bulletin and highlighting the strong relationship between Kodak and its headquarters in Abbotsford. Once the Coburg factory opened in 1961 and the Abbotsford site was gradually phased out, the publication was referred to more consistently as Kodak Sales News.

Kodak Sales News continued in its booklet format until June 1968 when it was superseded by the Australian Kodakery. The Kodakery covered a wider range of topics and was more magazine like in appearance, utilising glossy paper and colour images. For a short period of time over the next few years there was not a dedicated sales bulletin for Kodak staff.

1970s-1990s

The Kodak Sales News title was re-launched in the 1970s as a publication focused on sales, with a much greater emphasis on products and promotional campaigns. Its format changed to a 'newspaper' (i.e. broadsheet) design in 1973 to allow for more detailed information to be included. This larger version of the Kodak Sales News had less pages than previous editions, but was still mostly printed in black and white.

The Kodak Sales News circulation seems to have been restricted to sales representatives and retail staff employed by Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd, unlike the similar Kodak Dealer News which was sent to stores that stocked Kodak product. The revamped Kodak Sales News appears to have continued into the 1990s.


Holdings

Museums Victoria holds almost the entire run of the 1956-1968 run of the Kodak Sales News, and also holds around twenty examples of the later broadsheet version of the publication dating from 1973 to 1977.

References

HT 53168-15

HT 39156-5

HT 39156-12

HT 49988-23

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