Has anyone else starting to get the feeling or vibe that Hasselblad is becoming a sort of middle-culture brand? I'm honestly wondering what people think and haven't come to any conclusions myself.
One of the hardest things to talk about is low-culture, mid-culture and high culture because it sounds pretentious. But it's the way I've found best to predict success or failures of photo gear in the marketplace is according to who buys it rather than what it actually does.
Low-culture buyers in the photo world want practical, inexpensive and accessible so they buy items like i-phones and point-shoot cameras etc. That's easy and everybody can understands it.
High-culture buyers want specialty and price is not a factor. These folks buy the arcas, alpas, leicas, IQ180s etc. This forum is filled with high-cult and that's why it's the only place I even bother to post.
Middle culture buyers share aspects of both high and low culture and that often makes them the most confused. It does no good to listen to what they say because they will often do the opposite of what they actually say. Actions speak louder than words with this part of the market. They are usually too practical to pay for the highest quality yet too discerning to be totally practical (Canon and Nikon users are a good example of mid-cult) The tell-tale sign of mid-cult is brand loyalty and brand recognition. They usually lack the confidence to buy something from a small relatively unknown boutique maker and will make decisions based on what's popular from word of mouth from peers or
mainstream reviewers, publications etc.
Currently, I think the main thing that Hasselblad has going for it is the brand name. But it's name isn't really meaning that much to today's high-cult buyers. Nowadays, the name seems to mean more to the mid-cult buyers. This leads me to believe that Hasselblad has gotta come up with something that appeals to the middle and not the top buyers if they want to have future success. Of course, the best way to appeal to the middle is to claim to the be top....but the real top always knows better