Special Feature Sound
Special Feature Sound Pix Pioneer gets closer to consumers New products drive increased brand recognition and consumer interaction Pioneer has been making an extra effort to engage with the public and the professional community at IFA 2010 and that effort has been paying off. “We have had a very good IFA,” said Erik de Rouck, Marketing Department Manager, Sales & Marketing Division, Pioneer Europe. “We decided to have DJs demonstrating our new DJ deck, the CDJ 1000, plus we’ve brought along a car with one of our new, integrated sound systems, and we’ve been running another demonstration called 24 Hours With Pioneer which shows how our products are relevant and useful all through the day. As a result we have had considerably more visitors and they stay for much longer.” The company has also been working on applications for the iPhone. “We already have an iPhone application which controls several of our radio receivers plus a range of Bluray machines,” de Rouck says. “Plus, of course, we will be expanding this idea into other devices and also developing applications for Android and Nokia phones. We are also working hard to develop our online presence and create much more interactivity with consumers, in fact during the development of EISA Awardwinning KODO XW-NAC3 digital speaker system we ran focus groups, something which we will be doing more regularly in the future.” Currently Pioneer Europe’s website receives 1.2 million unique visits per month. “We are going to be introducing a review section for customers and generally we are very keen to engage with people in order to be able to produce the best possible products,” he said. “We are also considering the possibility of an online business relations. We are aware that brands need to engage directly with people and it is something that we are working hard to make happen.” Pioneer was recently presented with three awards by the European Imaging And Sound Association (EISA) – for the KODO XW-NAC3 digital speaker system; the AVIC- F20BT was recognised as European In-Car Navi-Media System 2010-2011; and the TS-SW3001 was named European In-Car Subwoofer 2010-2011. Erik de Rouck, Marketing Department Manager, Sales & Marketing Division, Pioneer Europe Hall 1.2 Stand 101 32
Exclusive Interview When B2B meets B2C LG Business Solutions leverages IFA to meet small to medium business owners By Richard Barnes IFA is an extraordinary platform for business done at many levels. One of the less likely is that of IT / AV solutions in the small- to-medium business sector, but that’s just what LG Business Solutions company is selling — very successfully. Dr Jin-Yong Kim, Senior Vice President, Solution Business Unit, LG Business Solutions Company, tells us that his division’s track record at IFA is exceptional, which is why they’re back … You probably heard about our escalation last year. For more than two years, LG Electronics has been trying to focus the transformation from B2C to the B2B area. We believe that our technology and our experience in the B2C area can provide us with a huge opportunity to provide value to the B2B vertical clients. So we have been focusing on trying to develop turnkey solutions for specific vertical industries. Today you have probably seen our showcases focusing on education, retail, hospitality, corporate and transportation verticals. One of our strengths in LG electronics B2B is that we have a very long experience focusing on display solutions such as monitors, plasma and LCD displays and TVs. At the same time we try to understand the needs of the verticals. Our aim is to provide value, ease and convenience to the verticals. In the case of videoconference systems, we are concentrating on small and medium business clients. Our focus is providing them with systems that are easy to install, connect and use. Whenever you use a videoconference system, once in a while you may have to call your IT manager to help you connect the system, fixing the IP address and so on. With our system, it’s very simple. Just one click and the smart dialling system connects to the people you want to call. IFA is a consumer show, but you are targeting business customers. How does that work? IFA is concentrating more on B2C, but at the same time, our business solutions company is trying to focus on small and medium business owners, and traditionally they have been buying a lot of consumer electronics through normal retail outlets. These people are visiting the show and they love to have the opportunity to see such things as videoconference systems, hotel TV systems and head ends, and our network monitors. Small business owners are very interested in these solutions, because up to 31 workstations can now work through one single PC. Our new digital signage concept, Supersign, also focuses on SMB owners. It’s an affordable and easy-touse solution that puts digital signage within the reach of even the smallest businesses today. How are you distributing in Europe? Less than half our business is through traditional AV and IT distribution. Over 50% is through direct contact, with the collaboration of the resellers. How does your European infrastructure work? In Europe, Shawn Kim is the head of our marketing group, based in Amsterdam. His office oversees all European countries, but at the same time, we have 14 subsidiaries in the different countries. Marketing is done country by country. What are the most exciting developments in what you are doing? Frankly speaking, we are very happy to see the progress of the hotel TV area, now we are starting to introduce entire turnkey solutions, and at the same time, the whole industry is moving to 3D TV. Of course in the B2B area, this is a little bit slow, but that will come, and one of the strengths of LG in the 3D area is the fact that we have our own proprietary Digital Rights Management standard, Proidiom, which is almost ready for use with 3D. In the US, we have been working very hard with the Hollywood studios and other content providers to bring this to fruition. Here, the take-up of DRM is slower Dr Jin-Yong Kim: “Trying to focus the transformation from B2C to the B2B” than in the US. However this year it’s changing, and the European System Integrators are including DRM in their hardware/software offering for hotel operators. Have you been doing business here at IFA? Yes of course! We have invited many of our major partners to the show. Many of the top System Integrators and some of our distributors have been visiting our stand, and I have been very busy working with them. Do you feel there is a convergence between B2B and B2C products today? Yes. For example CE just announced smart TVs and connectivity is one of the huge trends going forward. In hotel and B2B, we have already been doing that. One of the key issues is how we can synchronise or make a seamless connection between B2B and B2C devices. This is part of our overall high-level strategy at LG. www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Tuesday, 7 th September 2010 33
