It's going to be a busy day for Kodak Communications Department

In today's Wall Street Journal

Moody's is pushing into a gray zone, singling out some firms that say they're in decent fiscal health. On Monday, imaging company Eastman Kodak objected to being on 'the bottom rung

My personal take is that Moody's has come up with some new statistical tools to give some credence to lots of blablabla to try to revive their brands before Congress turns them into public utilities. Meanwhile, back in the real economy:

Any speculation, however informed, suggesting that Kodak is less than financially sound, is irresponsible,' wrote Eastman Kodak spokesman David Lanzillo in an email. 'Kodak is financially solid, and we are taking the right actions to ensure that we remain a strong and enduring competitor.'

But as we all know, if you keep score by the stock price, every time Wall Street opines,and it's picked up by the media, lots of real people have to leave behind creating value and do the blablabla with "analysts."

Consider:
It was the Wall Street Journal that reported that Kodak was selling NexPress. That consumed hours and hours of time and focus to straighten out. Unfortunately Kodak can't bill them for the time.

Free advice:
All the vendors should get together and take a page from the Obama campaign and WalMart. Talk directly to investors (read: customers or voters) instead of trying to educate and manage the media.
A. The vendors have all the printing tech on the ground around the globe.
B. Everybody's PSPs needs marketing material and new business.
C. The vendors have the street address of their investors.
D. Our people are at least as talented and alot more focused than anyone at the ratings agencies or the newspapers.

So... how about an industry wide versioned newspaper, distributed and printed with a clear version of our side of the story delivered to the people who really care about it. And eliminate conference calls and analyst events and information kits that they mostly won't understand any way.

It could be printed at InfoPrint's Innovation Centers, HP stores, Xerox Premier Partners, Oce's DNN partners and every PSP on the ground that wants to get involved.

The hard parts
1. The vendors have to play nicely with each other. Compete with products and offers, not with blablabla.
2. It means no spin. No attempt at spin. Not even a hint of spin. But spin takes so much time anyway. Eliminating it would probably cut the SG&A. And replace the "one size fits all" annual report with versioned, transpromo, customized, personalized print product, delivered through a network of Distribute and Print networks.

In any case, Moodys ratings might be useful or no useful. "True" changes so fast, that I know it's not "true." In this one, I'm going with David Lanzillo at Kodak instead of the "analysis du jour" from Moody's.

Moody's Aims to Be Ahead on Defaults - WSJ.com:

Pilloried for missing credit problems in the nation's mortgage markets, credit-ratings firm Moody's Investors Service is trying to get ahead of corporate bankruptcies. The firm on Tuesday is publishing a list called the Bottom Rung, detailing the companies that Moody's says are most likely to default on their debts.

With 283 companies, the list holds nearly every sector of the economy. The dominant industries on this at-risk list include much of the U.S. auto industry, the casino sector, and many retail chains, newspapers and broadcast-TV and radio-station networks. Energy firms, airlines and restaurant chains appear often. . . . "Yet Moody's is pushing into a gray zone, singling out some firms that say they're in decent fiscal health. On Monday, imaging company Eastman Kodak objected to being on 'the bottom rung.'

'Any speculation, however informed, suggesting that Kodak is less than financially sound, is irresponsible,' wrote Eastman Kodak spokesman David Lanzillo in an email. 'Kodak is financially solid, and we are taking the right actions to ensure that we remain a strong and enduring competitor.'"