Polk Marketing?

fatchowmein

Not that I'm some sort of advertising guru but I was thinking about Polk's marketing strategy this weekend after leaving the mall with my wife. A pair of women cut us off heading to the exits and in each hand was a large Bose bag with large Bose boxes and I'm pretty sure they both spent a little over $1K (total).

I see Bose advertisements in magazines, TV informercials, and mailers. I see their stores in the malls. I usually end up running into somebody trying to perform a Bose demo at those malls. In the end, I think the aggressive advertisements work to pull in buyers. Heck, there are more Bose products in the hands of friends and family then there are Polk even when they can clearly hear the difference (me and my cousin = 2 versus everyone else) yet everyone else thinks we're nuts or it's too hard to set up.

Anyway, to my point. I read somewhere on here that Best Buy will be carrying Polk products? Is this the beginning of a more aggressive ad campaign to drive product awareness? Or, will Polks continued venture into consumer electronic stores cost them the loyal followings of audiophiles who look down upon audio companies catering to the masses?

I'd like to see Polk do well as consumers jump on the HD bandwagon and realize they need decent audio gear to play uncompressed 5.1.

I'd also like to see a Polk Police Squad to crack down on piss poor LSi15 demo's (1 speaker hooked up to a Onkyo 605, no speaker cable run to the other speaker) while Bose has 4 people run a full audio/video demo (yes, I visited one).

Alright, stepping off my soap box...

WilliamM2

I think Polk is already doing quite well. Sure, they could do more advertising, infomercials, and marketing in general like Bose does. Who do you think would end up paying for all that?

Early B.

fatchowmein wrote: »

Anyway, to my point. I read somewhere on here that Best Buy will be carrying Polk products? Is this the beginning of a more aggressive ad campaign to drive product awareness? Or, will Polks continued venture into consumer electronic stores cost them the loyal followings of audiophiles who look down upon audio companies catering to the masses?

Huh? Polk began catering to the masses over 20 years ago, and they've been extremely successful. So by going into BB, Polk is simply executing the same marketing tactics that have worked for them for many years.

Besides, Polk doesn't have "loyal followings of audiophiles who look down upon audio companies catering to the masses" because Polk is obviously one of those audio companies that cater to the masses.

Perhaps I missed your point.

danger boy

without advertising you're product can be exceptional, but if no one knows it's out there.. it rarely sells.

there are lots of products out there that are just average at best. but everyone knows what the product is an is very familiar with their name.

Did Bose become Bose by not advertising? How about Nike? Pepsi?, McDonald's?

it's fine if you "do well" for your product. but who wants to be number 2, or number 3? no one does.. everyone with a product to sell, wants to be numero uno baby.

People like winners... do you get recognition for being number 3 ?

reeltrouble1

no wood huh Sal?

RT1

obieone

My BIGGEST beef w/ Bose is that they're PROPRIETARY! Their 'Lifestyle' systems start @ $2k. For the same cash you can get RM6880, BluRay player, 110wpc rcvr.
And you can change any of the components out. Can't do that with Bose!

TroyD

Eh, if he's happy and he pays you, no sweat of my ballbag.

BDT

dorokusai

Polk Audio markets pretty heavily here in the DC/Baltimore area. In addition, print ads have picked up quite a bit since the Surround Bar hit the market.....read a trade magazine lately?

Historically they have been on the down low in regards to marketing but I don't have a marketing degree, nor does anyone on this actual forum from what I know. There must be a reason to do things.

I recall something that XXXX said to me ages ago, "Print ads don't sell product very well."

TroyD

Agreed, there is much more to it than just running ads. Bose whole concept is very labor intensive which drives prices up so you have to find that happy medium.

I'd say (and the info surrounding the purchase by DEI confirms) that Polk has been doing quite well, actually.

BDT

venomclan

BOSE is the #1 recognized brand in the world, not for just a/v, but for any brand in any market, even over Coke. What BOSE has is not only great marketing, but they built themselves up to a prestige status. So they are able to charge whatever they want and people with money will pay it.

No different than Rolex, Mercedes, etc... and the same holds true about quality, it does not need to be there, just the name, just like Rolex & Mercedes who also underperform their peers but sell for far more. There is an upscale mall near me that has a Bose store in it. I am sure the rent there is insane, but they survive.
Venom

MacLeod

I hadnt heard that Polk was going into Best Buy. About time if you ask me.

I was in Circuit City today browsing for subs and there was nothing, NOTHING set up for demo. They had a lot of the HTiaB systems set up and running but nothing of quality. All the Polk floorstander speakers were in the HT room alright - not hooked up to anything and with the Monitor 30's sitting on top of them. None of the TV's were on and there were wires hanging all over the place. Looked like crap.

Then I go over to Best Buy across the street and they have Klipsch, Sony, JBL, Bose and Yamaha setups. Each brand has its own little stand complete with a receiver and demo and all their speakers and subs are set up from bookshelf to top of the line floorstander. You have a controler to pick the type of music and you can pick the set of speakers by the push of a button.

Honestly, if I were just John Q Consumer and was in the market for some speakers and went to Best Buy then Circuit City - Id own a set of Klipsch or JBL right now and wouldnt give Polk a second thought.

I hate to say it cause Ive been a loyal customer of CC for 20 years now but if their other stores are anything like the one here in Chattanooga, I think they do far more harm to Polk Audio than good.

WilliamM2

I hate to say it cause Ive been a loyal customer of CC for 20 years now but if their other stores are anything like the one here in Chattanooga, I think they do far more harm to Polk Audio than good.

Maybe you'll get lucky, and the CC there will go out of business, like the one here did.