Marketing

Savant’s Virtual Expo Delivers a Powerful 1-2 Punch That Just Knocks Me Out

October 6, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

Online home of the Savant Virtual Expo 2021

As the first and one of the most prominent brands that decided to pull out of the recent CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis last month, Savant based their difficult decision on placing the safety of their employees and customers as their key concern in a time of surging Delta-variant COVID infections. But that decision did not mean that they didn’t want to communicate with their dealers about the many exciting developments at the company. So Savant developed a powerful two-pronged approach (the 1-2 punch I mentioned) to deliver their dealers a better – virtual – trade show.

See more on the Savant virtual tradeshow…

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CEDIA Expo Opens with Few Exhibitors; Not 500, Not 242, Only 76 Booths Remain

August 31, 2021 by Ted 7 Comments

CEDIA Expo 2021 floorplan — *Looks like lots of room for hospitality at CEDIA Expo 2021*

CEDIA Expo opens this week, with education sessions starting today and the show floor opening tomorrow. As Strata-gee has been reporting, over the last three weeks literally hundreds of exhibitors have pulled out of the event over concerns surrounding the surge of infections due to the Delta variant of COVID-19. With Emerald expositions vowing to forge ahead with the event no matter what, attendees to the event – whether many or few – will find themselves at a very different CEDIA Expo.

See more on this very different CEDIA Expo

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CEDIA Expo 2021: Should You Risk Your Health to Attend a ‘20% Expo’?

August 26, 2021 by Ted 6 Comments

CEDIA18 Day 2 crowds — I saw more open aisles on Days 2 & 3

The Day After Losing 39 Exhibitors, Expo Loses Another 26

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been for exhibitors of CEDIA Expo 2021, and also for potential attendees who watched a slow-motion train wreck unfold right in front of their eyes. It was almost exactly two weeks ago – on August 10th – when Savant CEO Robert Madonna suddenly announced that Savant was pulling out of CEDIA, due to concerns over the surging infections from the Delta variant of COVID-19.

Little did we know then that this was the trickle before the flood…

See more on the saga of CEDIA Expo 2021

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CEDIA Expo Loses More Than 100 Exhibitors; Redraws Smaller Floorplan

August 23, 2021 by Ted 2 Comments

CEDIA 2018 crowd — *CEDIA Expo in better days*

CEDIA Expo 2021, scheduled to run in less than two weeks from September 1-3, 2021 in Indianapolis, IN, has been steadily shrinking over the last ten days or so, as exhibitors began pulling out in the face of the rapid expansion of COVID infections due to the Delta variant. Emerald, the exposition company that owns the CEDIA Expo, has said they are going forward no matter what – even though their data shows that more than 100 exhibitors have pulled out of the event in the last two weeks.

See the latest numbers from Emerald and the smaller floorplan

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TechStarter: Will We Find the ‘Next Big Thing’ at CEDIA Expo 2021?

August 5, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

Emerald, the exposition company that owns CEDIA Expo, announced this week that they will again field a TechStarter competition at CEDIA Expo 2021. TechStarter, the show says, is sort of a tech-specific version of ABCs Shark Tank show, where exhibitors in the show’s “Launchpad” section – the section that used to be known as Innovation Alley – get to pitch their business models to the judges (comprised of top industry executives) in the hopes of being selected as one of the TechStarter FIVE.

See more on the TechStarter competition at CEDIA Expo 2021

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The New West Coast Experience Center for Savant? A Stunner…

July 15, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

Nestled in the hills over the Nevada plains, not far from the bright lights of Las Vegas, Savant Systems partnered with design-led development firm Blue Heron and integrator Eagle Sentry to create what they call their West Coast Experience Center – otherwise known as a stunning residential home showcasing a million dollars worth of Savant technology (as well as a few technology partners). The ultra-modern home, clearly destined for an ultra-rich niche, featured a design that was – to my eyes – just stunning…and the installation is a true testament to Savant’s theory that installed AV should be “hidden in plain sight.”

You’re going to want to see Savant’s new West Coast Experience Center…

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MQA Finale: Both Anti- and Pro- Forces Have Their Successes and Failures

July 1, 2021 by Ted 14 Comments

Part 4 Finale – A Summation That Doesn’t Always Add Up

STRATA-GEE – This is the fourth and final installment of our contemplation on the controversy swirling around MQA. I want to start by thanking Bill Leebens for the many, many…MANY hours he spent interviewing, speaking with his editor (me), writing, and rewriting these pieces. It was a lot of work that for him, I’m afraid, will largely be thankless, as one side or the other will decry his work. At the same time, Bill and I end up in a slightly different place and you can see some of my thoughts at the end of his piece. But none of that takes away from the herculean effort this topic represented and I am eternally grateful to Bill Leebens for his thoughtful approach.

See where we end up after weeks of study on MQA

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SnapAV and Control4 are Rebranded as Snap One

June 29, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

SnapAV Execs Hindman & Vaughn Explain the Rationale Behind the Change to Strata-gee

Recently, in a special Zoom presentation for Strata-gee by SnapAV executives Jeff Hindman (Chief Revenue Officer) and Kordon Vaughn (VP Marketing), I was about to learn about the company’s new brand strategy going forward. Ever since SnapAV acquired their largest division, Control4, there has been much speculation about how to address the market with two strong, well-known brands. I joked, “So what’s it going to be…ControlAV or Snap4?

It turns out I wasn’t that far off, as the executives shared with me that they would be rebranding the organization as Snap One.

Learn more about how SnapAV became Snap One…

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Congress Prepares to Regulate Big Tech, Yet They Top ‘Most Trusted Brands’ Poll

June 18, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

>Learn How to Improve Consumers’ Trust in Your Brand

Many political observers have declared the end of bi-partisanship, as the political right and left seem further apart than ever before in the history of the country. Yet there is one area where both parties agree, it is time to rein in the big tech players. Ironically, in a new poll of the 15 most trusted brands in the world, we find a lot of tech represented – including some of the Big Tech players. Is Congress out of step with the American people? And how important is “trust” to a company or brand anyway?

See the most trusted brands & how to improve yours…

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MQA Controversy – A True Audio Breakthrough? Or a Marketing Scam?

June 10, 2021 by Ted 12 Comments

MQA uses a process they call music origami — **MQA utilizes a process they call “Music Origami”**
*[Photo: By Laitche – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3244373}*

Part 1 – A Bill Leebens Guest Post

STRATA-GEE: For some time now, I have been hearing rumbles throughout the audio community, particularly the high-end audio community, about controversy surrounding MQA (Master Quality Authentication) – a U.K. company that claims to have created a proprietary technology that allows for the delivery of “better than lossless” audio via certain streaming services. At first, it seemed like the Holy Grail of audio – delivering music that is identical to the original master recording into your earbuds via streaming services such as Tidal. Then the whispers started – “It sounds like it is too good to be true because it IS too good to be true.“

Recently, a YouTube video appeared that blew the doors of MQA dissent wide open and seems to show that MQA technology is NOT doing what the company claims and leaves many to conclude that MQA is little more than a thinly veiled marketing scam. The company pushed back…hard. I asked Bill Leebens to investigate the swirling whirlwind of controversy now engulfing MQA.

See more on our investigation into MQA…

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Marketing

Savant’s Virtual Expo Delivers a Powerful 1-2 Punch That Just Knocks Me Out

See more on the Savant virtual tradeshow…

CEDIA Expo Opens with Few Exhibitors; Not 500, Not 242, Only 76 Booths Remain

See more on this very different CEDIA Expo

CEDIA Expo 2021: Should You Risk Your Health to Attend a ‘20% Expo’?