HARMAN Luxury Update

Dave Tovissi
Vice President and General Manager, HARMAN Luxury Audio

Webster’s definition of the word council is “an assembly or meeting for consultation, advice, or discussion.” HARMAN Luxury Audio’s definition of a Dealer Council is “an engaging group of individuals who share a common goal to grow their business by offering input on current and future product designs and applications.”

Last year, HARMAN Luxury Audio reinstated the JBL Synthesis Dealer Council, which met several times during the year. The first meeting was held at ISE in Amsterdam with our European Council members. As we all know now, ISE would be the last time any of us would be able to meet in person for business discussions and product reviews. Later in the spring, we held our first Americas Council meeting via WebEx.

These meetings and subsequent follow-up inquiries with our Council members helped us define our current JBL Synthesis product roadmap and brand strategy. This month, we were excited to see the output of our Dealer Council collaboration lead to not only the production of our flagship LCR (SCL-1) and subwoofer (SSW-1) but also the expansion SCL lineup, including the CES Innovation Award Winner In-Ceiling Loudspeaker (SCL-8). We also have new SDA amplifiers and some other innovative products in development with goals to announce at CEDIA EXPO later in the year.

Due to the overwhelming support and success of the JBL Synthesis Dealer Councils, this year we are planning additional Dealer Councils for our Arcam, Mark Levinson and Revel brands. As was the case with our Dealer Council meetings last year, the Arcam, Mark Levinson and Revel meetings will bring together individuals who have a passion for these brands and a desire to contribute to defining and refining the product portfolio.

Our first Arcam Dealer Council meetings are anticipated to occur next month. Our EMEA region will kick off the first of these Councils next month on March 4th. Those dealers and distributors have been chosen. Invitations for our other regions will go out shortly. We are eager to learn how your business has been impacted by the pandemic and what you have been doing successfully to grow your sales under these unusual circumstances. As part of our agenda, we will be sharing some future product concepts and working with you to determine if there are other concepts that we should be exploring to fill voids in your product portfolio. We also want to share some marketing initiatives and determine what assets we can deliver to help grow your business with HARMAN Luxury Audio.

If you have interest in participating in a Dealer Council this year, please contact your Regional Sales Manager and let him/her know your intentions and what you can bring to the Council. We look forward to working together towards our mutual success!