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
Wow - that was actually news to me! I thought it was a company owned store now...
Another one bites the dust.
Yes, in my opinion the Dealer Network will continue to shrink as I suspect that B&O are looking to get rid of the Franchise Model as much as possible and only keep an association with the most successful dealers.
If you think about it from a purely financial perpsective, if B&O can "cut out the middle man" and run the stores themselves, they can make higher margins and also have a tighter control over levels of service, installation and repairs.
Only a thought, but it's kinda pointing that way imho.
Lee
So now is a bad time for a career change in the retail sector?
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
9 LEE: Yes, in my opinion the Dealer Network will continue to shrink as I suspect that B&O are looking to get rid of the Franchise Model as much as possible and only keep an association with the most successful dealers.
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=350ba01d-c5ea-4de6-a404-4a37b9731cd1
B&O seemed to be damned if they do and damned if they don't, I do feel for them sometimes!
StUrrock: 9 LEE: Yes, in my opinion the Dealer Network will continue to shrink as I suspect that B&O are looking to get rid of the Franchise Model as much as possible and only keep an association with the most successful dealers. http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=350ba01d-c5ea-4de6-a404-4a37b9731cd1 B&O seemed to be damned if they do and damned if they don't, I do feel for them sometimes!
€900k fine for not allowing online sales in France!
Dealers are bound to have a difficult time, particularly now that the likes of John Lewis are selling a wider and wider range of BeoPlay products. Perhaps the introduction of BeoPlay was a deliberate way of getting around area franchise contracts which possibly only applied to the B&O branding itself???
The end/renewal of building or shop leases, typically every 7 years, will be the tipping point for many B&O owned showrooms. Franchises will only survive if they provide B&O with the agreed franchise returns after any start-up running-in period, failing which, if I am not mistaken, they revert to direct B&O ownership.
Graham
vikinger: The end/renewal of building or shop leases, typically every 7 years, will be the tipping point for many B&O owned showrooms.
The end/renewal of building or shop leases, typically every 7 years, will be the tipping point for many B&O owned showrooms.
Amen.
You couldn't have hit the nail on the head more if you were armed with a mallet the size of a large town (with it's own closed down dealer)..
I think B&O are in what's known as a "financial tailspin" at the moment - and the only thing that will seize the controls and get the company out of it is some killer products and a decent marketing strategy.
I feel I have an obligation to B&O, as the owner of the site, to blindly promote the company as I DO genuinely and honestly love the brand. I believe totally in my heart what Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen wanted - and achieved in many ways, and that ethos is exactly the same as my approach to life - and where possible, business. If you're going to do something, do it properly. Be the best - even if your budget is smaller. Never stop. Never look back. Always think 'how can I do it better' - and do it better - or if you can't afford to do it better, do it smarter - or the same but with more style at the very least.
I'm afraid I was hooked as a kid. I saw the adverts in magazines. I walked into the multibrand showrooms and gravitated towards this amazing section with a strange name to a 12 year old boy. "Bang & Olufsen" to a small boy from a poor street in a small village was very strange.. The BeoVirus has stayed with me ever since and never left though. I always promised myself Bang & Olufsen when I grew up. No compromise.
Now, the marketing department focuses on affluent 40+ year olds who knew the brand, like myself, when they were children - who aspired to own it. Yes, you're preaching to the converted chaps - and milking the cows that have been in your field for many years. However, we won't be around forever.. You need to focus on the new generation of buyers.
What I'm trying to say is MARKETING... If i had bigger capital letters, I'd use them.
Bang & Olufsen still make some great products. Really. I'm sorry, but the latest Samsung, Panny, Loewe TV - you name it.. The motion handling, the image quality, the contrast - it's simply not as good as B&O as a 'whole delivery'. The style and sound quality (combined) of B&O speakers is right up there too - no matter which drivers or crossovers they use. There are SO many little stories which have been told to me about manufacturing processes, innovations, triumphs in engineering that have blown me away and made me think "wow - THIS is what B&O is all about... the ethos still lives" - yet NOTHING is mentioned in ANY of the advertising and marketing. It's just photographed in a room nobody would ever live in, with a strap line at the top of the advert, and a web address.
I can honestly say that the employees at Struer who I have met take immense pride in their jobs and genuinely give their all in areas from R&D through to Production. However, the marketing team are failing to create that "magical and mystical" aura the brand used to have back in the heyday.
B&O have some gifted people. Look at Geoff Martin - and I'm sure he has equivalents in other departments who Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Linn, Chord, Loewe (and please name A. N. Other company ad infinitum) would love to employ - but they stay loyal as they know they are really at the cutting edge of their craft and are allowed to do so at B&O (they are, honestly - B&O encourage innovation). So, why do the things they do get brushed over?
Personally, I'd be wheeling Geoff out on a podium about thrice a week in front of the world's press to talk about something which would baffle the dribble-stained clowns from 'Stuff' magazine into writing articles which brought B&O to the fore once again. However they get flown out to launches, put up in a hotel, get shown the product on a table, then sit through a powerpoint style presentation whilst stuffing a canape into their disinterested faces. Then, they go back and type "uber expensive" and "uber stylish" and then "over priced" because they simply do not understand the research, manufacturing processes, engineering, styling and huge amount of thought which has gone into the product. Why? Because it's not marketed.. at all...
I know the lady who organises the press events and trips (who works harder than anyone I've ever known), I know the people who design the products, I know the people who make sure they are absolutely the very best they can be, and I've met the people that assemble them - and each of them has a very special tale to tell which has enchanted me, keeping me believing in what B&O is all about. However, all of these facts and stories (all true) have been very quietly told to me in private. Why?
Bang & Olufsen are thinkers, innovators and creators. The marketers are procrastinators.
Tell the story. Let the world know what B&O do. Stop being modest. To a degree, stop being so Danish!
9 LEE: Tell the story. Let the world know what B&O do. Stop being modest. To a degree, stop being so Danish!
You're not wrong. I realised the other night the majority of my furniture is Danish. However, I also realised that most of this furniture was bought from me bothering to do some research. Locating sofas, finding top fabric (also Danish - http://kvadrat.dk), placing orders by finding a local retailer and so on.
Most of these Danish brands do not advertise, most of the retailers do not display the products and the fabrics are small samples. It just seems to be the way it is. I think they allow word-of-mouth to sell their products, with the occasional advert.
In the watch business, IWC, Panerai and others spend nearly all their time telling their potential customers of the watch manufacturing heritage. You do wonder why B&O don't do the same. There are way too many people out there who think it's all style over substance.
The lack of marketing from B&O is not a recent phenomenon. It was not a lot different 50+ years ago!
Regards Graham
9 LEE: Wow - that was actually news to me! I thought it was a company owned store now... Another one bites the dust. Yes, in my opinion the Dealer Network will continue to shrink as I suspect that B&O are looking to get rid of the Franchise Model as much as possible and only keep an association with the most successful dealers. If you think about it from a purely financial perpsective, if B&O can "cut out the middle man" and run the stores themselves, they can make higher margins and also have a tighter control over levels of service, installation and repairs. Only a thought, but it's kinda pointing that way imho. Lee
It would make sense that the "B1 stores" would have been run by B&O, as it's basically a boutique. Jewelry and watches are being sold today on the same model. You have the Boutiques (usually owned by the manufacturer) and then you have the Authorized dealers that sell everything between heaven and earth.
Seems to be working well within the luxury goods business.
Too long to list....
9 LEE: vikinger: The end/renewal of building or shop leases, typically every 7 years, will be the tipping point for many B&O owned showrooms. Amen. You couldn't have hit the nail on the head more if you were armed with a mallet the size of a large town (with it's own closed down dealer).. I think B&O are in what's known as a "financial tailspin" at the moment - and the only thing that will seize the controls and get the company out of it is some killer products and a decent marketing strategy. I feel I have an obligation to B&O, as the owner of the site, to blindly promote the company as I DO genuinely and honestly love the brand. I believe totally in my heart what Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen wanted - and achieved in many ways, and that ethos is exactly the same as my approach to life - and where possible, business. If you're going to do something, do it properly. Be the best - even if your budget is smaller. Never stop. Never look back. Always think 'how can I do it better' - and do it better - or if you can't afford to do it better, do it smarter - or the same but with more style at the very least. I'm afraid I was hooked as a kid. I saw the adverts in magazines. I walked into the multibrand showrooms and gravitated towards this amazing section with a strange name to a 12 year old boy. "Bang & Olufsen" to a small boy from a poor street in a small village was very strange.. The BeoVirus has stayed with me ever since and never left though. I always promised myself Bang & Olufsen when I grew up. No compromise. Now, the marketing department focuses on affluent 40+ year olds who knew the brand, like myself, when they were children - who aspired to own it. Yes, you're preaching to the converted chaps - and milking the cows that have been in your field for many years. However, we won't be around forever.. You need to focus on the new generation of buyers. What I'm trying to say is MARKETING... If i had bigger capital letters, I'd use them. Bang & Olufsen still make some great products. Really. I'm sorry, but the latest Samsung, Panny, Loewe TV - you name it.. The motion handling, the image quality, the contrast - it's simply not as good as B&O as a 'whole delivery'. The style and sound quality (combined) of B&O speakers is right up there too - no matter which drivers or crossovers they use. There are SO many little stories which have been told to me about manufacturing processes, innovations, triumphs in engineering that have blown me away and made me think "wow - THIS is what B&O is all about... the ethos still lives" - yet NOTHING is mentioned in ANY of the advertising and marketing. It's just photographed in a room nobody would ever live in, with a strap line at the top of the advert, and a web address. I can honestly say that the employees at Struer who I have met take immense pride in their jobs and genuinely give their all in areas from R&D through to Production. However, the marketing team are failing to create that "magical and mystical" aura the brand used to have back in the heyday. B&O have some gifted people. Look at Geoff Martin - and I'm sure he has equivalents in other departments who Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Linn, Chord, Loewe (and please name A. N. Other company ad infinitum) would love to employ - but they stay loyal as they know they are really at the cutting edge of their craft and are allowed to do so at B&O (they are, honestly - B&O encourage innovation). So, why do the things they do get brushed over? Personally, I'd be wheeling Geoff out on a podium about thrice a week in front of the world's press to talk about something which would baffle the dribble-stained clowns from 'Stuff' magazine into writing articles which brought B&O to the fore once again. However they get flown out to launches, put up in a hotel, get shown the product on a table, then sit through a powerpoint style presentation whilst stuffing a canape into their disinterested faces. Then, they go back and type "uber expensive" and "uber stylish" and then "over priced" because they simply do not understand the research, manufacturing processes, engineering, styling and huge amount of thought which has gone into the product. Why? Because it's not marketed.. at all... I know the lady who organises the press events and trips (who works harder than anyone I've ever known), I know the people who design the products, I know the people who make sure they are absolutely the very best they can be, and I've met the people that assemble them - and each of them has a very special tale to tell which has enchanted me, keeping me believing in what B&O is all about. However, all of these facts and stories (all true) have been very quietly told to me in private. Why? Bang & Olufsen are thinkers, innovators and creators. The marketers are procrastinators. Tell the story. Let the world know what B&O do. Stop being modest. To a degree, stop being so Danish! Lee
Lee, you also hit the nail right on it's head! In one blow!
Couldn't agree with you more!
Great posting Lee with excellent points made.
If you take my son as an example. Mid 30s, high earning with plenty of disposable family income. He grew up with B&O as part of his life and all around him in our home. He's got lots of tech, Apple Macs, phones etc but when I mention B&O to him, it's like he is no longer aware of the brand and its products.
He is exactly the type of customer B&O should be targeting, but they're not.
A great pity.
looking at retail in general this to me seems a smart move, times are hard and competition is strong so consolidating and focusing on your strengths is a good way to protect for the future.
we tend to forget there is more to design than designing.
Lee is on point for sure!!
My personal thought is B&O should own almost all their stores as Bose, Apple, Microsoft etc. do. This way the end consumer can start to get a consistent experience from the demo to the install. What I like about going to any Apple store in the US is I can guarantee the experience I'm gonna get. Sure some of the associates know more than others in different stores, but the experience is always the same or similar........
The same is not true for B&O. The consistency is just not there. I have clients all over the US that come back to me only because of this exact problem. Great for me sure, but overall a shame for the brand if you think about it. I think the days of buying electronics in a dealership model are coming to an end in the consumer mind with everything that's out there in the form of brick and mortar stores as well as online market places.
We are too connected in today's society, so just one bad experience can sour a potential customer's perception of the brand and kill any progress made in the form of exceptional products or marketing...
There are great dealers and horrible dealers, as most of you already know! It shouldn't be that way.
Ah, you know... A little B&O here, a little there
w5bno123: We are a far cry from where the economy was 14 years ago when stores were turning over good money. Shops like Hampstead, Kingston and Bath were right up there, 2 out of 3 have gone, why? Is it the business owners, the area or the brand?
We are a far cry from where the economy was 14 years ago when stores were turning over good money. Shops like Hampstead, Kingston and Bath were right up there, 2 out of 3 have gone, why? Is it the business owners, the area or the brand?
I haven't been in the Bath store for about 3 months. I know their shop lease expires this year, so I hope the store isn't going to close. I know they were looking for alternative premises, but this was proving to be a struggle (the store needs accessibility and finding a retail premises where you can temporarily park a van outside, isn't easy). Hope they get this stored.
As for marketing. You know, I don't hear from my local store. They used to be quite pro-active and contact you with deals that you might be interested in. In fact, I've bought more B&O kit through deals than brand new product. They don't contact me, I don't go in the store. I do think stores could be much more pro-active in their approach. Northern European retail is very passive in their approach to marketing. They sit there hoping for people to come to them, rather than getting out and bringing people in for a reason. Indeed, my local store still prints and posts letters to customers, rather than pro-actively emailing them with some suggestions.
For instance, if an email came in suggesting an A9, I might be tempted. But they wait for me to visit them. And, frankly, I can't be bothered. Oh and the watch store is on the way and I get distracted....plus they are much more ready to offer you a deal.
B&O has a real old fashioned relationship with their customer-base which hasn't changed in 10 years, in my opinion.
I came quite close to investing a lot of money in a store about 6 years ago. I love the brand and am a customer, as are members of my family.
i visited a lot of stores around the country and spoke to a lot of dealers. I still travel through much of Europe with work, and especially when travelling the UK try and pop into different stores.
Once you explain to the store staff or owners that you nearly opened a store yourself they seem quite open (in the whole) about telling you what a lucky escape you had. Lack of product, sky high prices, marketing, being unable to show other brands, and the general costs associated with running the business seem to be the main issues.
i also looked at Loewe, and opening a general CI showroom. I didn't come across many other brands who impose such restrictions on their retailers, and even make them compulsory purchase products they may not want for display and even windows (at full price!)
i regretted staying in my old job for a while as I resent the travel and missed time with my family, but with hindsight a B&O store which would have swallowed at least 150k to setup wouldn't have been a good option., even at a time when one of the benefits B&O talked about was the fact that the products weren't available to buy anywhere else.
moxxey: B&O has a real old fashioned relationship with their customer-base which hasn't changed in 10 years, in my opinion.
Last I heard the stores weren't allowed to run their own local facebook, twitter, or google + pages. Mental
Some years ago, I was involved with B&O marketing. We participated in a competition for the world wide account, and beat the leading Japanese agency, a major American agency, and others.
I was then introduced to the nightmare of trying to create good advertising for B&O - which proved impossible.
We identified exactly what Lee is pointing out: you have to connect with and engage younger customers; you have to tell brand stories that are in-depth and that reveal the ingenuity of B&O; and you need attitude.
Remember the old Beomaster 1900 ad with the Japanese studying the amplifier? That had attitude. That's what we wanted to do for B&O. I was able to do interviews with Helene Grimaud (brilliant pianist), with John Mathieson (photographer who shot Gladiator, among other epics), with Daniel Harding (conductor who raved about being in an Audi A8 listening to himself conducting Mahler).
We wanted the Apple generation to realize they could use B&O's active speakers without an amplifier. And we wanted to move activities to the stores, and use the stores as the advertising medium.
No go. The brand didn't dare stand out, the chief reason being that the various national rep's wanted something that would fly without any objections anywhere. The brand didn't run its advertising, instead it listened to every objection raised around the world, and ended up with blandness that was ignored everywhere - instead of communication with attitude that would be noticed.
It was a tremendous letdown to go through. We had an incredible pianist raving about the BL5s. A world class cinematographer that enthused about how his movies played to perfection on B&O screens and theatres. I had the Berlin Philharmonic ready to enter into a collaboration with B&O, leading musical agents willing to have their talent plug the brand. And they didn't dare push it hard - instead opting for the product shot in an unliveable atmosphere. Waste of advertising space and money.
I am a diehard B&O enthusiast and wanted others to become as engaged with the brand's unique stories. Because the stories are there, ready to be told. Sometimes, products are so unique and great that you don't need embellishing them with anything else - at other times, you can revitalize brand perceptions with the kind of stories we were pushing, and that have been mentioned above.
For instance, while in Portugal presenting the new brand platform to all the dealers, I was in a room together with the head of audio, listening to music from a pair of BL5s. But he was disturbed, something was wrong. And he realized that my iPhone was playing music through its earbuds, in the back of the room - and that little sound was the reason he was disturbed. That would have been a tremendous story to tell - his ability to listen was that acute.
It's tragic. I had fun - I met Frede Kristensen, and was able to do an interview with him for the catalogue, telling the story of how I got him to refurbish a Beolab/Beomaster 5000 for me. But marketing management then wasn't able to believe in the power of those stories - instead opting for the blandness that everyone was comfortable with inside the organization, and no one cared about outside.
We wanted to do lots of work like the ad I'm appending, but it didn't fly with management. Our suggestions were outside their comfort zone.It ended when we suggested having a leading Japanese game developer invite people to come into the stores, with large store window displays, to experience what playing his games would be like on B&O equipment. That was too radical, and "would scare away our customers."
Hindsight is cheap - but what's been done to the B&O brand by management is close to criminal, in my opinion. And I'm starting to get the sense that it is too late to turn the brand around. I should probably not write this post, but like Lee (whom I came to know through our efforts for B&O) we loved the brand and wanted others to love it, as well. To get that going, you have to take chances, you have to be unconventional, and you have to believe in what you're selling with as much conviction as your greatest fan and adherent.
And you have to be in charge of your communication - today more than ever - if you want it to get noticed.
(Click the BeoLab 5 pdf above for the sample. We had to get permission from each of those concert halls, all renowned for their acoustics, all pleased to be associated with B&O, for free!)
Adding: today, I received the stands for my mint condition Beovox S45-2 speakers. I sprayed them with aluminium paint, mounted the speakers. Used the cables that Steve at SoundsHeavenly just sent me, connected them to my Beolab 5000, and have spent some time listening and enjoying - and thinking that this would also have been a great ad. What other electronics brand can tell a story like that? (Thanks also to Dillen, who sent me the capacitors for those speakers, to help me make them "as new" again. B&O has enthusiasts all over the world, who love the brand, who are keeping it alive, in spite of marketing's efforts to kill it.)
Bang & Olufsen of Liverpool are a sponsor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and last year sponsored the St. Matthews Passion. Before the performance, we were able to play some classical music through the BeoLab5's on the stage for our invited guests.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bang-Olufsen-of-Liverpool/145580285529638?id=145580285529638&sk=photos_stream
rednik: moxxey: B&O has a real old fashioned relationship with their customer-base which hasn't changed in 10 years, in my opinion. Last I heard the stores weren't allowed to run their own local facebook, twitter, or google + pages. Mental
Hi rednik,
Not in my experience - please tell us 'where' you have heard this.
Hi moxxey,
I can't recognize that here in Denmark - maybe it is the 'british way' of doing Bang & Olufsen
Sometimes I even think I get too many emails from my local stores 'trying to sell me the latest stuff'.
Greetings Millemissen
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Opman: Bang & Olufsen of Liverpool are a sponsor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and last year sponsored the St. Matthews Passion. Before the performance, we were able to play some classical music through the BeoLab5's on the stage for our invited guests. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bang-Olufsen-of-Liverpool/145580285529638?id=145580285529638&sk=photos_stream
Hi Nick,
Looks like you've just disproved half the theories put forward in this thread!
Millemissen:I can't recognize that here in Denmark - maybe it is the 'british way' of doing Bang & Olufsen
Yes, but these emails are an extension of the printed literature. The stores do email, but they are usually just the same stuff you get in the post.
What I mean is that I'd like to see stores become more personal. My watch dealer and other watch dealers do this. So do car showrooms. They'll send personal emails on new watches they think you'd like, deals on watches or cars that are applicable to yourself and just keep in touch on a 1:1 level. B&O stores, in my experience - I've had a relationship with three stores - tend to follow the corporate line. They post literature and email the same stuff, only when it's made available to them.
I have a ton of Danish furniture, but none of these manufacturers tell you about the heritage, quality of production and so on, in their advertising. When they do advertise, you get a photo of a chair slapped in the middle of the page, plus a list of retailers....who never have the advertised chair on display!
It's definitely much more a Northern European approach to attracting customers - you can see this in pan-European magazines such as Monocle (http://www.monocle.com).
moxxey: Millemissen:I can't recognize that here in Denmark - maybe it is the 'british way' of doing Bang & Olufsen Yes, but these emails are an extension of the printed literature. The stores do email, but they are usually just the same stuff you get in the post. What I mean is that I'd like to see stores become more personal. My watch dealer and other watch dealers do this. So do car showrooms. They'll send personal emails on new watches they think you'd like, deals on watches or cars that are applicable to yourself and just keep in touch on a 1:1 level. B&O stores, in my experience - I've had a relationship with three stores - tend to follow the corporate line. They post literature and email the same stuff, only when it's made available to them.
Great thread some great points made.
As an out town store we very much tend to do our own thing and that has never done us any harm.
A big store with large footfall such as B&O in Harrods, for example, will always do well and following the B&O line to the letter is good, giving the corporate B&O experience.
For the rest of us it is just as important to integrate B&O with other products were needed and finding bespoke solutions for every client, no matter how much they spend. Of course with the best customer service.
I have little time for marketeers, certainly all those I've ever dealt with! I've lost count of the times we've had a product with a real performance advantage which was never promoted for fear of standing out from the crowd and offering something different to the mainstream - I would have thought that this would be exactly what a marketeer would want!!!
All they ever ask for is the same as everyone else but more of everything - there are no risks and hence no breakthroughs. The majority had scarily little knowledge of the product and zero technical knowledge and yet claimed to be the people who "understood" our customers via weak questionnaires filled with silly questions like "how much would you pay for.........." etc. Our products are more targeted to retailer's buyer requirements than they are to what an end user might actually find useful!
The people invariably also have a high turn around as they move away to totally unrelated companies with bigger budgets and more spend (a move to Laura Ashley springs to mind).
I don't find it any surprise that probably two of the best marketeers of modern times, Jobs and Dyson, had technical backgrounds and an overwhelming passion for the product and belief in what they were doing. (This doesn't necessarily mean they were right, we bought a DC01 and it was rubbish - I had to clean the thing out every week with a bent wire to remove furballs that blocked the airpath). Nevertheless he convinced the populous that it didn't block up and had no bag to clean/empty (he conveniently didn't mention the two filter pads that needed cleaning or replacing) - the rest is history..........in my generation Hoover was a generic term for all vacuum cleaners - you don't hear it at all now!
None of this would even happen with committees, focus groups or a young marketer assigned to a product development team - they will never dare to be different!!
B&O's long history of products photographed in expensive empty rooms does not suggest style or luxury (at least to me), it looks cold and soulless. This is the 21st Century, - use all of the media available to promote the equipment. Advertise the features and capabilities, tell people why it is different and why this is a good thing. Sell it to the whole family rather than just middle aged, prematurely balding Dad! Stop trying to push the style and lifestyle thing - if people like it they will like it when they see it without being told to like it........sell performance! Stop wasting money of articles about why Wilfred the orchestra conducter thinks BLwhatsits are brilliant..... very few people will ever read it and even less care! The time remaining for selling new products to 1980's customers is rapidly running out!
Ban boring signatures!
Puncher: Sell it to the whole family rather than just middle aged, prematurely balding Dad! Stop wasting money of articles about why Wilfred the orchestra conducter thinks BLwhatsits are brilliant..... very few people will ever read it and even less care!
Sell it to the whole family rather than just middle aged, prematurely balding Dad! Stop wasting money of articles about why Wilfred the orchestra conducter thinks BLwhatsits are brilliant..... very few people will ever read it and even less care!
To be fair to B&O, I did think they did this correctly with the BV8 launch. It was photographed as a TV for your kids, their playroom, playing games or perhaps in the kitchen, for the family. I was impressed with the way they photographed this TV. They had a spell a few years ago where they got it right. This was around the time of the BV8, BeoCom 5 launch. Since then, they've gone back to the old-style of marketing - like Puncher says, depicting an orchestra in your living room or similar.
I agree with lee 100% as I am also of a certain age, and I grew up with my father having a B&O radio and amp form the 1970's era (all lovely wood!) And i purchased (After much help from you guys when this site first started!) And i bought a BV3 32", which i have to say is still going strong after 8 years now, and too many moves to mention! (How I have managed to get away with only one small scratch on the aluminum door of the cabionet, is beyond me!
But my point is, every time I have moved, everyone says exactly the same thing: "WOW! What a lovely TV!" And when they see it working, especially the stand turning, they are gobsmacked that and old CRT TV has such a crisp picture, and the sound, especially using a Humax HDR FOX-T2 to show HD, is stunning, the picture quality is so good, I shudder sometimes when I see the quality some people put up with from the mass market TV's (I did a lot of re-tuning when London swapped over to Digital!)
Yes it is expensive, and i wish I could afford to buy more, but I agree with Lee, I don't see any marketing from B&O.
I even popped into the new Dorchester collection hotel on Park lane last year 42 park Lane, and they have a lovely B&O flat screen on the wall in the bar, although no one seemed to know how to use it!
I only discovered new of the A8 when I popped into the B&O store in Kings Road, as I was passing and saw it in the window, now I am saving up for an iPad and a Beoplayer A8 so i can retire my old cassette deck and de-clutter!
If only B&O took a leaf out of Volvo's book and pushed their unique selling points, they would get much more custom, and hopefully more people would want them!
This is the kind of engagement with the "sources we enjoy" that the brand should do more of, both locally, as you are doing - but also on a global scale. I disagree with Puncher, and the conductor's name was Daniel Harding, not Wilfred. He declared that he heard details in the recording of his live Mahler 3 in Tokyo, while sitting in an Audi, that he hadn't heard on stage - and he wouldn't mind living in the car. That is the kind of statement that would get the attention of one group of people that can help energize the brand with their new-found enthusiasm for its capabilities.
The fact that those interested in classical music in Liverpool get to hear the BeoLab 5s, in a select demonstration, also lends cachet to the brand, and takes it away from the general perception of "Philips inside" that many still think is valid.
That said - with stores all over the world, in good locations, with lots of passersby, B&O should spend its marketing money there - beginning with the window displays, and having fantastic demo's on tap for those entering. Those store windows are not being used right, and there's tremendous potential in them.
soundproof:He declared that he heard details in the recording of his live Mahler 3 in Tokyo, while sitting in an Audi, that he hadn't heard on stage - and he wouldn't mind living in the car.
If someone had claimed to have heard subtle differences between speakers at two different shop visits it would be shot down for a whole list of legitimate reasons, short term audio memory, different locations, different setup etc.
It is a meaningless statement but hey - when has that ever mattered in marketing!
I don't think that a conductor gets the same musical experience from his podium as the audience does. In fact depending upon where you sit you will have a different experience.
Maybe the live recording actually gives the conductor a better experience after the event.
Gaham
A great thing perhaps and worthy sponsorship, but is that really going to reach out to all potential customers? Nothing wrong with classical music, but what percentage of the customer base out there ever listen to it? Relatively small I would guess.
And the photos on that link are truly awful IMO. Sorry if this offends someone, but I have a very close friend who is a professional commercial photographer and he would cringe at images like that. He can make the most ordinary looking item(s), for corporate brochures for example, look absolutely stunning.
B&O's marketing is and will probably always be MOTS...
x:________________________
soundproof: Some years ago, I was involved with B&O marketing. We participated in a competition for the world wide account, and beat the leading Japanese agency, a major American agency, and others. I was then introduced to the nightmare of trying to create good advertising for B&O - which proved impossible. We identified exactly what Lee is pointing out: you have to connect with and engage younger customers; you have to tell brand stories that are in-depth and that reveal the ingenuity of B&O; and you need attitude. Remember the old Beomaster 1900 ad with the Japanese studying the amplifier? That had attitude. That's what we wanted to do for B&O. I was able to do interviews with Helene Grimaud (brilliant pianist), with John Mathieson (photographer who shot Gladiator, among other epics), with Daniel Harding (conductor who raved about being in an Audi A8 listening to himself conducting Mahler). We wanted the Apple generation to realize they could use B&O's active speakers without an amplifier. And we wanted to move activities to the stores, and use the stores as the advertising medium. No go. The brand didn't dare stand out, the chief reason being that the various national rep's wanted something that would fly without any objections anywhere. The brand didn't run its advertising, instead it listened to every objection raised around the world, and ended up with blandness that was ignored everywhere - instead of communication with attitude that would be noticed. It was a tremendous letdown to go through. We had an incredible pianist raving about the BL5s. A world class cinematographer that enthused about how his movies played to perfection on B&O screens and theatres. I had the Berlin Philharmonic ready to enter into a collaboration with B&O, leading musical agents willing to have their talent plug the brand. And they didn't dare push it hard - instead opting for the product shot in an unliveable atmosphere. Waste of advertising space and money. I am a diehard B&O enthusiast and wanted others to become as engaged with the brand's unique stories. Because the stories are there, ready to be told. Sometimes, products are so unique and great that you don't need embellishing them with anything else - at other times, you can revitalize brand perceptions with the kind of stories we were pushing, and that have been mentioned above. For instance, while in Portugal presenting the new brand platform to all the dealers, I was in a room together with the head of audio, listening to music from a pair of BL5s. But he was disturbed, something was wrong. And he realized that my iPhone was playing music through its earbuds, in the back of the room - and that little sound was the reason he was disturbed. That would have been a tremendous story to tell - his ability to listen was that acute. It's tragic. I had fun - I met Frede Kristensen, and was able to do an interview with him for the catalogue, telling the story of how I got him to refurbish a Beolab/Beomaster 5000 for me. But marketing management then wasn't able to believe in the power of those stories - instead opting for the blandness that everyone was comfortable with inside the organization, and no one cared about outside. We wanted to do lots of work like the ad I'm appending, but it didn't fly with management. Our suggestions were outside their comfort zone.It ended when we suggested having a leading Japanese game developer invite people to come into the stores, with large store window displays, to experience what playing his games would be like on B&O equipment. That was too radical, and "would scare away our customers." Hindsight is cheap - but what's been done to the B&O brand by management is close to criminal, in my opinion. And I'm starting to get the sense that it is too late to turn the brand around. I should probably not write this post, but like Lee (whom I came to know through our efforts for B&O) we loved the brand and wanted others to love it, as well. To get that going, you have to take chances, you have to be unconventional, and you have to believe in what you're selling with as much conviction as your greatest fan and adherent. And you have to be in charge of your communication - today more than ever - if you want it to get noticed. (Click the BeoLab 5 pdf above for the sample. We had to get permission from each of those concert halls, all renowned for their acoustics, all pleased to be associated with B&O, for free!) Adding: today, I received the stands for my mint condition Beovox S45-2 speakers. I sprayed them with aluminium paint, mounted the speakers. Used the cables that Steve at SoundsHeavenly just sent me, connected them to my Beolab 5000, and have spent some time listening and enjoying - and thinking that this would also have been a great ad. What other electronics brand can tell a story like that? (Thanks also to Dillen, who sent me the capacitors for those speakers, to help me make them "as new" again. B&O has enthusiasts all over the world, who love the brand, who are keeping it alive, in spite of marketing's efforts to kill it.)
OMG, I'm not an expert on marketing or advertising, but talking about missed opportunities here...
Vähintään yhdeksänkymmentä prosenttia suomalainen!
This is an old thread but it features the recently closed Liverpool store.
The fate of that store, discussed yesterday in a now deleted thread, is that it is about to become a very up-market restaurant. As a restaurant it is likely to become a destination with advanced bookings and little reliance on passing trade.
As a B&O shop it found itself right between the shopping and business districts in the shifting zones of city redevelopment, with little passing trade. This demonstrates the importance of both getting a showroom location right in the first place, and moving on when necessary. Of course the decision to move on will also be related to leases and profits and many other factors.
Just wondering why a post that went to moderation here more than two hours ago has still not appeared.
vikinger: Just wondering why a post that went to moderation here more than two hours ago has still not appeared.
A: Because your post contains words or combination or repetition of words, that was considered bad language by our automated filter (in this case, I think your post has enough words like store, market, trade, profit etc.. for its size, to make it look like spam) and moderation is not automated.B: Because we moderators cannot be here 24/7, even if we would like to - and apparently sometimes need to.It's friday night...Martin
It's just appeared. Thanks.