Looking outside the box for AV product marketing
For the last month, the world has been watching the World Cup. With not only millions of football (soccer) fans streaming into Russia, the coverage from every country has been round the clock. Here in the U.S., we have had to root for a second, or third, choice as our team didn’t quite make it into the field.
According to an article by AV Magazine, some Shenzhen-based LED manufacturers were using the opportunity of the crowds at the World Cup to do product launches as well as training in Russia.
This strategy has the potential to create demand. Not just from the integrator’s side but from the end-users side.
Listen to the full discussion on AVWeek 357
Cory Schaeffer from QSC said on AVWeek 357 “I actually think it’s brilliant because it creates that pull through. I mean, you know, many times us manufacturers we go, to integrators and we show (product) and then we want you to bring it to the customer. But to be able to have a customer see it and watch it and do that pull through, actually think is really brilliant and again in an emerging market.”
Schaeffer brought up the point about Russia being an emerging market. What that means is you have to get creative for both audiovisual integrators as well as manufacturers to get in front of potential clients.
“Corey makes a really good point that Russia is still an emerging market, this is something where you could, from an integrator standpoint, partner with or support a manufacturer who maybe comes to your town or is helping you trying to get into an emerging market”, Nevel Bounds from Feltech added on the program.
The World Cup is winding down as the teams move into the next tier of play. Girish Narayanan weighed in on other possible venues for product launches throughout the globe. “The world’s richest horserace, in terms of prize money, happens in Dubai. You know, of course, it’s not comparable to the to the football, which is happening, but I thought that it’s a very, very exciting time to do product launches. And, you know, these technologies are actually used in many of these facilities.”
The next major global sporting event will not happen until summer of 2020 when the Olympics take place in Tokyo. That city is already pushing the ProAV envelope by encouraging display manufacturers to already create 8K displays. The Japanese broadcaster NHK has been testing broadcasting the games in 8K. It would be an ideal time for not only display manufacturers who have 8K displays but also those infrastructure specialists who can transport 8K to head over the Tokyo and demonstrate to the end user what their technology is able to do.
Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), InfoComm, CEDIA, and the other audiovisual trade shows will be important for those that make the industry run to attend and get their hands on the gear. As we move to an ever-increasing global footprint for the ProAV industry, looking at these globally attended events may make sense for those manufacturers who are trying to create that “pull” from the customer side.
