Once the undisputed leader in cameras and film rolls, Kodak went through rough patches to re-emerge as a major force to reckon with in digital photography and printing. Mobile is now getting serious attention at Kodak.

The imaging giant implemented two SMS-based mobile marketing tactics to support its presence on-site at last month's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company also runs SMS alerts and promotions and has launched various smartphone applications, including three already live in Apple?s App Store and an application for Research In Motion?s BlackBerry to be released next month.

Mobile Marketer?s Dan Butcher interviewed Tom Hoehn, director of interactive marketing and convergence media at Kodak, Rochester, NY. Here is what he had to say:

What is Kodak?s strategy behind the launch of the three applications for iPhone and iPod touch?Kodak Gallery, Kodak Smile Maker and Kodak Pic Flick?
Kodak has been developing iPhone apps since 2008. All are free and available for download to iPhone or iPod Touch devices from the App Store.

We want to offer customers a variety of ways to use and enjoy their Kodak products through their mobile devices.

For instance, we believe consumers will agree it?s easier to ?flick? a newly taken picture from their iPhone to a nearby Kodak frame or printer over a WiFi signal than to hook it up to their computer first. They can do so using the Kodak Pic Flick app.

The Kodak Gallery iPhone app makes it easy to upload and share photos online albums on iPhone or iPod touch.

The Kodak Smile Maker app lets consumers add one of more than 20 fun cartoon smiles to a photo. To date, it?s been downloaded more than 200,000 times.

We are constantly looking into ways to make sharing images easier for our consumers.

Do any of them ask the consumers to register any information or sign up for alerts or discounts?
No. Our iPhone and iPod touch apps do not include any advertisements or discount offers. However, we are offering that option through our SMS initiatives.

Is there a Kodak SMS club?
At CES, we offered every person in attendance the opportunity to enter an SMS to Win contest. Afterwards, they were presented with the option to opt-in to more deals from Kodak.

Attendees could send a text to the keyword 31400, Kodak?s booth number, to a short code for a chance to win a Kodak product.

Winners were notified via text message and could pick up their prize at the Kodak booth.

In addition to potentially winning a free Kodak product, consumers had the opportunity to receive the full agenda for K-Zone or updates on certain panels.

K-Zone is a talk-show-style set used for interviewing top media and subject matter experts. Reminders were sent 20 minutes prior to every interview selected.

We were very pleased with the engagement we had with attendees at CES and will look for future opportunities to integrate SMS into Kodak events and programs.

Are there plans to roll out any of Kodak?s apps to other smartphone platforms such as BlackBerry, Palm or Android?
We?re not ready to announce anything at the moment, but we?re constantly looking at every mobile platform our consumers are using, whether it?s Android, Palm or even the recently unveiled iPad.

We also showed off the world?s first BlackBerry printing app at CES?it will be available for consumers in March.

How is Kodak getting the word out about its apps?
Mostly, it?s just done through good old word-of-mouth. Our customers are talking about, tweeting about and blogging about how great these apps are.

We, of course, talk about them on our own social media properties, but we?re finding our customers are doing most of the work for us because they are excited about the news and ways to share from Kodak.

We are looking forward to aggressively grow our efforts in mobile this year.

We also put together a "Mobile Marketing Tips" booklet that we unveiled at CES based on the popular reception we saw earlier with its partner publication "Social Media Tips." Both booklets are available for free download at http://www.kodak.com/go/followus.

What other mobile initiatives has Kodak run?
Since December 2009, consumers have been able to use their mobile devices to interact with the Kodak Times Square billboard in New York City.

This is a one-of-kind experience in Times Square. Consumers can email a photo to , and once the photo is approved, they?ll receive a second email containing a code.

When they?re ready to see their picture on the big screen, they simply text the code to the number provided and the photo will appear at the next opportunity.