CEMA's Second Audio Summit A Resounding Success

Representatives from almost every major audio company gathered in June in Chicago to attend the second annual Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association's (CEMA's) Audio Summit. Building on the success of last year's program, 50 executives from 30 audio companies learned about customer-centered marketing strategies, and how to create better awareness for the home audio experience by effectively communicating with their customers. ""We in the audio industry know that we must use innovative marketing techniques to recapture consumer interest,"" stated Joe Richter, President of Kenwood USA Corp. and Chairman of CEMA's Audio Division. ""We came away with new approaches, techniques and strategies for developing marketing and PR programs within our own companies. This program was about learning from well-respected marketing experts, following the lead of successful companies, and applying lessons to our own industry in reaching consumers in new and creative ways. The Summit stands as an example of CEMA's ongoing effort to help us grow our industry."" Leading the host of speakers at the Summit was Stephen Kraus, Ph.D., of Yankelovich Partners, Inc. who discussed ""Rocking the Ages,"" a Yankelovich report on generational marketing. Sam Hill, co-founder of the Helios Consulting Group, gave an overview of the concepts detailed in his business bestseller, ""Radical Marketing."" Garth Hallberg, author of ""Why All Consumers Are Not Created Equal"" and marketing consultant, discussed strategies for building brand loyalty and profits that go beyond one-to-one marketing. Susan Aldrich, a senior consultant with the Patricia Seybold Group, discussed how to create a profitable business strategy for the Internet and beyond, based on Seybold's bestseller, ""Customers.com."" ""The speakers we heard and interacted with helped validate some of our industry's current promotional initiatives, like our consumer direct mail campaign,"" Richter continued, ""We also heard suggestions of how to better communicate with our customers with future programs, such as our audio training certification program, media outreach to Generation X, and our Web site to be launched this fall, www.AudioWeb.org.""