By Todd Ramsey
Having just returned from the SEMA Show, where I enjoyed a variety of forward-looking conversations, and then (just a couple days ago) having recently had a candid conversation with a colleague no longer active on the trade side of the 12-volt "car audio" business, it's clear that the divide between our collective interests and, more importantly, our collective willingness to work on something together, is still very apparent. It seems like an awful lot of the industry is just doing its own thing, somewhat oblivious to any kind of bigger picture.
The fact is, what we’re all finding difficult is the reality of relevance, or our lack thereof. What we USED to bank on as core products and services may not necessarily carry the same relevance when we’re looking forward — not looking back. It’s really obvious that we need to focus on three things as far as industry awareness goes (and when looking for our future opportunities through relevant innovation):
1) Integration with factory A/V systems (primarily by leaving what’s in the dash there and adding on where it makes sense) in a way that’s truly integrated and has tremendous value for the consumer. Since this is somewhat still dependent on professional installation and configuration, the real opportunities for tomorrow will be those who say “not necessarily” to the old convention of taking everything out from the factory and starting from scratch. It’s just not a relevant approach anymore. Improvements don’t always come from simply changing or adding parts.
2) Ubiquitous connection of portable devices to the vehicle, and user interfaces within the vehicle that make sense and are easy to use, oh, and if possible these solutions would be highly reliable too! Beyond the process of integration, we need to focus manufacturing, and even installer-level configuration of aftermarket products, on more intuitive and user-friendly functionality. This business of complicated menus and all around poorly designed user interfaces for drivers (not lab rats) is of great importance. To be relevant to a wide-ranging audience, you can’t have this ridiculous secret handshake so many of our so-called solutions have now. We can do better. We MUST do better, and it’s a lot easier to consider how we can improve when we’re using our own products in our own cars to benchmark where we can improve.
3) We have to be visible online in many places. People research and purchase products based on what they locate online, and the experience of going online to find things and learn about them is different for each person. There are plenty of people who will never look at iPad installation or SPL videos on YouTube. There are people who, believe it or not, do not live on Facebook. We need to recognize that being visible online is not just Facebook or YouTube (or other social networking sites). It’s not just having a website (but retailers — PLEASE GET A WEBSITE if you don’t have one). It’s not just Google search or Yahoo Local. It’s not just online reviews or links with other partners. It’s everywhere, and we MUST understand there’s not one silver bullet on the Internet but that we have to be “out there” to even be recognized, let alone be considered relevant, in each consumer’s mind.
In a nutshell, we really can’t expect any entity like a 12-volt Initiative or MERA to be effective if the pieces of the puzzle that we need to deliver on a value proposition still don’t exist . We can each be doing a better job of connecting with an industry viewpoint, not just our own little bubbles.
It's now a good three weeks after we initially posted a comprehensive blog article, immediately following MERA KnowledgeFest, about the 12-volt Initiative and our industry’s awareness challenges in general. I REALLY had hoped more retailers and other industry colleagues would have some constructive contributions to the discussion of how we can all do something better and more effective. I often wonder if anyone in our industry ever REALLY reads our blog posts!
If we’re not embracing radical new ideas of how we come into the car with relevance to our products, services, and expertise, we’ll just be asking automakers, Apple, Microsoft, RIM and Google to determine what we’ll become by default. You have to ask yourself if that’s really how you want things to happen when you say “Oh, I’m just too busy or uninterested to get involved.”
Tap, tap, tap………………is this thing on?
Print | posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 4:08 PM