I feel sad for Kodak. A brand that defined an entire industry has been beaten by evolution.

But digital isn’t responsible for its demise; it was Kodak’s resistance to it and other change that saw the final nail in the coffin called bankruptcy.

Having never quite capitalised on the digital technology it pioneered, Kodak stood firmly behind its stand alone stores and print offers – trying to push its film brand.

Kodak, say analysts, also misunderstood the new ways consumers in which consumers wanted to interact with their photos. I hate to make this judgement, but it seems to have been the Yahoo of the photo world. Laughing in the face of competition and resting on the laurels that the brand was once the best in its field – surely that would be enough. And what about our loyal customers?

For a brand that created “moments” it certainly struck the rest of the world as odd when it left itself out of the picture. Indeed, missing the digital moment that would thrust it into the future.

Another aspect of that was online photo publishing, printing services that delivered prints to your door and department stores joining the bandwagon, printing photos for a few pence a shot.

Indeed, there were many things that went wrong for Kodak, but no real reason why it couldn’t have caught up if it tried.

Yet, even in bankruptcy, Kodak boasts some enviable strengths: a golden brand, technology firepower that includes a rich collection of photo patents and more than US$4 billion in annual sales of digital cameras, printers and inks.

It’ll be an interesting one to watch with some speculating that a revival isn’t completely out of the question.

But it sure would take one hell of a marketing effort to restore any faith in the brand.

For now, we’ll wait and see. In the meantime, here are some cute “moments” from a brand that will always be remembered as a pioneer, a ‘titan’ of the photographic and printing industry.

Not even Rihanna could save it…I guess it was love in a hopeless place.