Strategy in TECH...
As we hurtle headlong into the a new decade – the 2020s – it’s a good time to pause and take stock of some of the major events of our industry’s recent history by ranking the Top 10 Strata-gee stories of 2019 based on total page views. This ranking shows just what stories drew the most attention of Strata-gee’s eminently intelligent and inquisitive readers.
A funny thing happened this year at the 2019 CEDIA Expo…everyone I ran into kept asking me the same thing – what is the big story from the show? What’s funny is that I asked them the same question. Even when I ran into other members of the media…we often queried each other. Most kind of shrugged and would mention an item or two, but nothing that represented a major theme of the event.
However, there is an answer I came up with, but I’m not sure its the best answer…
Sonance announced today that they have entered into an agreement to acquire Minden, NV-based James Loudspeaker. This is the first major acquisition by Sonance since the purchase of Sound Advance in 2005, and is truly a marriage of two companies with a strong resonance in their approach to the custom integration industry.
“You are WAY too excited about this news,” Jason Sloan, Sonance Chief Sales Officer joked when first telling me about their rebranding plans a few weeks ago. But I was excited – these plans put forth a major shift in the position of the Dana Innovations, Sonance, iPort, & Trufig brands. To Sloan and CEO Ari Supran, this was more of a refocus than a rebranding – a return to their largest and most beloved brand after a long and at times frustrating period of trying to establish another overarching entity.
But to me, it was much more than that.
San Clemente, CA-based Dana Innovations announced today that it is launching a major rebranding effort, the results of which will better reflect their business initiatives, clarify the meaning and positioning of their various brands, and assert new brand “pillars” to better convey who they are and what they represent. It will also reassert the prominence of the Sonance brand.
The company will no longer be known as Dana Innovations thanks to a “back to the future” decision to elevate Sonance – the brand under which they were founded. Company management has granted Strata-gee exclusive access to this story, including to behind-the-scenes information revealing the depth and detail of the thinking, discussions, and even arguments of the last year and a half or so that were behind this major – and some would say somewhat risky – decision.
Josh.ai announced today that they have a new multilevel partnership with Sonance that includes new integrations with Sonance amplifiers and a new TRUFIG flush mount for the Josh Micro device. The company says this new partnership allows their technology “to seamlessly fit into any architectural aesthetic.”
For some time now, I’ve been picking up a lot of buzz about the new San Clemente, CA headquarters building of Dana Innovations, said to be a major upgrade from their previous digs and outfitted with an optimized, multi-room training center. Dana Innovations, parent company of power CI brands such as Sonance, iPort, and Trufig, is one of the top custom integration solutions providers of in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, multichannel amplifiers, keypads, touch panels, and more. They also are renown for their dealer training program, which the company runs year round.
So when I got an invitation to visit their facility close-up, I jumped at it. I’m not sure I knew what I was getting myself into…
As a member of the press corps for many CEDIA shows now, we have duly trudged through many a manufacturer’s booth review – Dana Innovations included – which can often be a mind-numbing bit of drudgery, as often all we see are a long list of existing products…nary an innovation to be found. However, this year, Dana Innovations – parent of Sonance, Trufig, and iPort – surprised us with a focused review of…well…innovations.
Dana Innovations announced this morning that it has appointed two new regional sales managers – Marc Schnoll and Dan Dusek. Both Schnoll and Dusek come to Dana Innovations from Bowers & Wilkins.
