ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
It's been a while since i've had the time to throw a few questions out there, but I find myself with a free half-hour and a keyboard in front of me... so here goes
Scenario
Tue has resigned due to being caught illegally doping himself in order to work 18 hours a day, 5 days a week and run half marathons, marathons and qualify for the Danish Olympic cycling team. You stuck your hand up, the board liked the look of you, and you're now rearranging the furniture in Tue's old office space and placing a picture of your loved ones on the desk next to your monitor.
YOU are in charge of Bang & Olufsen, and it's YOUR job to take them forward and bring the company to new heights.
Question
What the first thing you would do. After that, what... and what would your long term strategy be?
We're all guilty of shouting up when we disagree with new product lines and company decisions, so how would you do things?
Go.......
I started reading that as a statement of fact .......!
Stronger branding of ICEpower in other manufacturers equipment.
Stronger advertising of acoustic lens advantages.
B&O cinema systems for other manufacturers TVs.
Graham
I'm really not the managerial type, to be honest.
But in any case, I'd already be considering 4k tellies, better usuablity when it comes to the BS5 Encore (remove the limitations etc.), and get rid of some of the old, more stupid stuff, not least of which, the Beosuund 4 and the Beosound 8. I'd also stop making devices that "docks" with another company's products and rely entirely on wireless (or minijacks, for that matter) in that department.
I'd also EOL the Beosound/Beomaster combo, and make sure that the Encore was the best there was with much needed software updates.
For the film buff crowd, I'd make sure that the BS5 integrates well into such a system (haven't given this much thought as I'm not really a film person).
Speaking of which, I'd attempt to do a 4K telly in a smaller size (say, 55"-65"), and then later on give people an 86" or bigger. Obviously this have to be a smarttv as well.
I'd also attempt to focus more on wireless integration. I mean, that Playmaker is all fine and well, but it's an off-the-shelf thing, with more or less artificial limitations.
I think Airplay is fine, but I don't like the idea of relying on it, and a proper, dedicated wireless network, which can be built out (and synched) to your heart's content would be nice. They could even make it play nice with their tellies, so that your 7 speaker set-up could be synched to the television (or vice versa, as it were).
I can actually agree with all three points Graham mentioned...
...and pretty soon I'd start to come out with the new network system with regards to what it does now and what it could potentially do in the future. I'm well aware that it might slow down or stall the sales of certain current products, but it will also give food for thought to those who are planning what to have in that new house they start building in a couple of years.
Also, good speakers will continue to sell from here to eternity.
--mika
Define the concept.
Many of us have seen a little tiny bit behind that curtain at the capabilities of NetLink and it's not only impressive, but leap-frogs other systems that are currently defining expectations in the market.
The issue is that it will be a slow launch over a pretty long time until enough of the eco-system is out for it to make sense as a concept. Sonos, for example, may have some big limitations, but it's very easy for someone to do a few minutes of research and understand exactly what it can and can't do. NetLink appears to many like smoke and mirrors because we've made very little effort to define it as anything but MasterLink with different cords.
It would help everyone to publish (and publicize) a clear road-map to future capabilities. I understand the fear that it would put off buying decisions, but realistically those decisions could be put off just as much by savvy customers who understand that we're in the early days of a new system and want to know what they're buying/locking themselves into.
"What the first thing you would do?"
I would hire Tue - and tell him to work 18 hour a day, 7 days a week (not just 5 days)
Grrr! MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
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A very interesting thought and idea 9 LEE, so here goes my humble thoughts and ideas:
Assuming that taking them helm at B&O as the CEO means a new board and fresh blood all over; in other words total dictatorship, and eventually taking over the world later on that week ;) But first we start to put Bang & Olufsen back on track where they were in the 70' and 80 ties.
“Good morning staff. Here’s what we are going to do today, just before lunch….. “
-We take on the mainstream market to get volume and profits back up again. Extreme niche markets where customers don’t care about the price for products will not generate us the volume and profit we need. That needs to be secondary in order to survive.
- Forget about alarm clocks, light dimmers, ear set for music players, and what have you. Others are better at that – we are better at other things. Much better. We need to get back to basic and do what we are good at. We need innovate again, like we used to do.
- We skip and discontinue the 89 or something different Beovision’s we have, we forget about plasma, and for the time being, concentrate of a total of only 4 Beovison lines in the industry standard screen sizes. We can’t make 100kg TV’s needing 2 men and a mobile crane to install in a home. All LCD until OLED get’s affordable. Skip 4K TV as content and Internet infrastructure takes way too long to catch up, and by then technology has yet again skipped forward. We take the best screens and develop our own cabinets and software only. The sound will come from our new separate TV and PC/MAC speaker systems. Coming up now.
- We start designing 3-4 different surround sets, which can be used seamlessly on our own Beovision line but can also be sold separately to non-B&O TV’s. Also available in stores selling Beoplay line. Mainstream stores, that is. Make it quality, stylish and max 1.5-2 times more expensive than the direct competition. Mark the pricing just above Bose, but make it better. We need to totally cut ourselves free of the closed B&O system and open it up like the V1 and the BV11.
- Audio. The same strategy as in our video line. Too many speaker systems and too many targeted for the high upper market.
- Sales. Upper market in special stores where is staff is trained by us. Selling a product is an art. Take Apple as an example. We need to sell a feeling, an experience and then the product. Concentrate on after-sales. Very important. Keep the customer true to our brand. We all know that our present reseller strategy needs a massive overhaul (closing 125+ stores, in Europe only, before Q3 this year. Including store-in stores)
- Marketing and branding. Luxury and style is not only for the few rich and famous. Design and quality do not always need to be bulky, heavy and ridiculous expensive. Look at Apple. Sorry folks but we can’t afford to take on Sir Jonathan Ive, but we can certainly learn from it.
- Production: “Designed in Struer, Denmark – made in China” – rings a bell?
- Okay, let’s break for lunch and then we take over the world before we go home : -)
.. just a few thoughts really – no more, no less
I don't have any B & O components (I hope to have speakers this year) nor have I visited a B & O store. So please keep that in mind with the following.
B & O ought to make their speakers compatible with standard RCA phono jack outputs. I realize that other vendors make cables to get around this, but it would be ideal that if B & O insists on the special power link that they make a simple way to use it for non-B & O hardware.
Related to that, I don't get the whole idea of music/video servers. I'm starting to see them in the audio magazine I get, but I totally scan over them. As components, they seem to be overpriced computers. Granted, when I want to play music, I take out the record or CD and put on or in the player. When I want to watch a movie, I take out the VHS tape (not recently) or DVD or Blu-Ray in put it in the player. I don't understand the desire to have an entire collection in a "digital box." I guess I'm pretty old-school!
Perhaps a preamp/surround sound processor would be a good idea, and one that actually looks like a "real" component you'd put on a shelf, not an oversized remote control.
Is there really anything "special" about the TV sets? I see lots of reviews and advertisements for TVs, and I don't see much difference between them. Granted, I'm a projector fan.
Do they sell their products through general hi-fi dealers or only through their own stores? If the latter, I think moving to the former would be beneficial.
In closing, I'd focus on the speakers. I am a speaker guy as that is where the sound REALLY comes from. B & O have some thing special with their active speakers, digital cross-overs, digital amps, and acoustic lens technology that no one else has. THAT is why I read this forum AND why I'll be buying B & O speakers.
David
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
The first thing I'd do is fill my home with freebie speakers and TVs from the factory (for testing purposes of course).
x:________________________
After playing with all my new gear at home, I would consider how to integrate my products more effectively in to people's homes. Things like Beosystem 3 and Masterlink Gateway but on a smaller and more attainable scale. I would try to think of ways to make my customers want to build their systems, not try to entice them with a complete system purchase in one hit.
At the moment, I see B&O advertising and pushing for the complete B&O experience. This can deter people who see B&O as being unattainable. I think B&O needs to position themselves as 'just within reach'.
For example, there are a lot of people out there who want to buy B&O speakers and use them with their (eg) Samsung TV. You might think 'Let's make them buy a B&O TV!'. But why shun these people? Sell them a basic version of the Beosystem 3, and then all of a sudden they want 2 pairs of speakers and a centre speaker. Maybe a subwoofer as well. You're bringing in a buyer who may not have bought B&O because it's just too fiddly to integrate with what non-B&O you have already.
Not everyone can afford to walk in to a B&O store and buy a complete setup on the spot. I would think most people build a system over time. As they become more and more satisfied with their initial B&O purchase, more and more people will look to B&O to satisfy their next desire.
...and I agree with the IcePower branding concept. Increasing brand awareness can only be a good thing. Look at ASUS computers. They use Bang & Olufsen components, and heavily publicise this fact.
Branding is also good for Asian markets.