Sigma is a brand that has gone through a pretty profound transformation – something that is incredibly difficult for any brand to accomplish, but especially a camera and optics company.
Only a few years ago, Sigma was just one of many third-party lens manufacturers – well regarded, but mainly known as being the maker of more affordable lenses that first-party products from the big camera brands.
Last year, however, it completely changed its visual identity and brand presentation. From its new logo and typeface to the product imagery and focus on "Made in Aizu", Sigma masterfully repositioned itself as an aspirational artisan brand.
I asked Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki, whose father started the company 65 years ago, why the company went to such great lengths to change its brand identity – especially at the same time as launching a brand-new camera, the enigmatic Sigma BF.
"Sigma is my life, but still I don’t believe I can make Sigma a bigger company than Sony or Canon – but I think I can make the Sigma brand a nicer brand than such big companies," said Yamaki.
"So this kind of rebranding, I think, contributes to making Sigma a better brand."
"Sigma was founded by my father in 1961, and then he passed away 14 years ago and I took over the business – although I had already been working for Sigma for over 33 years.
"Then in 2012 we introduced our first Art lens. That’s my passion; I want to make the best of the best products. And the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM was really well received, and I was very happy. Since then, our engineers and staff have been working hard to provide the best of the best products.
"And I’m really proud of that. But I had been under the impression that our marketing team or myself are failing to communicate to customers how our product is good, how our products made by our engineering team are good.
"So I realized that we had to do something different, because we’ve been working so hard for 12 or 13 years to make the best products. We found that we needed to change the logo, the brand perception; how the brand is being looked at by others."
Shortly before my meeting with Mr Yamaki, I'd been talking about the company to my colleague Mike Harris – who described rebranding as, "Sigma is the Leica of Japan".
I shared this with Mr Yamaki, and also how I felt that visiting the Sigma factory in Aizu reminded me of visiting the Leica factory in Wetzlar – there was the same sense of family and craftsmanship.
"Oh, thank you! In this industry, only Leica and Sigma are family-owned private companies. All of the other players are big companies. So it’s a great pleasure for me if you see the similarity between the two!"
For an imaging brand not only to change the way it's perceived, but to reposition itself almost as a luxury brand, is nothing short of remarkable – especially in a world where even legendary names like Kodak and Agfa are little more than novelties.
Somewhere, I'm sure that Michihiro Yamazki is smiling at what his son has achieved.
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As a founding member of the L-Mount Alliance, Sigma makes some of the best L-Mount lenses. But it makes great cameras, too – check out my Sigma BF review along with our Sigma fp and Sigma fp L reviews.
